Heroes of the Eastern Skies (Chinese: 筧橋英烈傳; pinyin: jianqiao yinglie zhuan; lit.

and based on the true story of a small group of Chinese flying aces in 1937 at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, specifically depicting events in the Battle of Shanghai, Battle of Nanking and the Battle of Taierzhuang; the movie was released on 7 July 1977 in commemoration of the 7/7 Incident which sparked the start World War II in Asia.

[1] The movie recounts the combat actions between the Chinese Air Force and the invading air power of Imperial Japan with the flashpoint of the airwar set at Jianqiao Airbase, It won 6 awards at the 14th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Chang Tseng-tse).

In the movie, Col. Gao is accurately depicted recuperating in Lu Shan from serious injuries sustained from an aerial combat engagement, but is seen listening to a radio broadcast announcement of "heroic martyrs of our air force Yue Yiqin, Zheng Shaoyu, Tan Wen, Shen Chonghui giving their lives for our nation", to which the convalescing Col. Gao furiously reacts to by throwing a cup and lamenting how he must wait while his brothers are fighting and dying; while Tan Wen and Shen Chonghui were in fact KIA while Col. Gao was convalescing, Yue Yiqin died over a week after the death of Col. Gao himself, and Zheng Shaoyu died in April 1942.

[11] The depiction of Hawk III pilot Li Yougan getting shot down by Imperial Japanese A5Ms and then being strafed to death while descending in his parachute, was a lionizing of 17th PS, 3rd PG P-26/281 fighter pilot Liu Lanqing (劉蘭清) who was in fact killed when strafed to death mid-air after bailing-out in his parachute in an air battle over Nanjing on 19 September 1937;[12] Li Yougan himself was actually KIA while getting shot-down by anti-aircraft fire on 18 September 1937 during dive-bombing/strafing attacks on Imperial Japanese Navy warships in the Battle of Shanghai.