Ye Shaoyin: D-day's offstage hero

During Normandy Landing, Chinese engineer Ye Shaoyin and his research team solved the problem of the "Vacuum tube overloading operation", making great contributions to the successful landing through ground-to-air communication for more than 7,000 aircrafts of the allied force. The photo is exclusively provided to chinadaily.com.cn by Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and cannot be used without permission. [Photo exclusively provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The famous Normandy landing in northern France on June 6, 1944 by the Allies was only made possible with the innovation of Chinese engineer Ye Shaoyin, who improved a vacuum tube used for surface-to-air communication that helped coordinate the landing.

In May 1944, the Allies'radiophone failed to work 15 minutes after being turned on because the 6G6/G vacuum tube was overloaded. So the air force could not participate in the battle normally and isolated the ground tanks and offshore vessels.

35-year-old Ye was a senior engineer at the American Radio Corporation at that time, responsible for vacuum tube design. After countless tests, Ye eventually increased the output power of the 6G6/G vacuum tube until it was sufficient for the air force to communicate in flights.

The photos are exclusively provided to chinadaily.com.cn by Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and cannot be used without permission.