[1][2] In 1951, Yao's unit, the PLAAF 4th Fighter Aviation Division (reorganized from the 7th Mixed Brigade) was deployed to fight in North Korea.

Yao participated in his first air battle on 2 October 1951, as a wingman of the squadron leader Zou Yan, in the airspace above Anju, South Pyongan.

On 17 May 1953, in an air battle north of Pyongyang, Yao Xian's squadron shot down four American F-86 Sabre fighters, while losing two MiG-15s.

[1] In 1956, Yao Xian married Mao Yufang (毛玉芳), a textile worker from Liaoyang, who first saw him on the cover of the Hangkong (Aviation) magazine and met him when he went to her factory to give a speech.

[1] Yao Xian died in the morning of 3 March 2018, on the same day as his friend and colleague, fellow Korean War veteran and PLAAF lieutenant general Lin Hu.