Lin Liguo

Lin Liguo (Chinese: 林立果, 1945 - September 13, 1971) was the son of the Chinese Communist military leader Lin Biao and the person in charge of Project 571 Outline, a plotted coup against Mao Zedong.

Lin joined the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 1967 and was promoted to the deputy director of the Office of the Air Force Command in 1969.

Mao Zedong's government claims, that in 1970, under his father Lin Biao's direction, Lin Liguo made a plan known as Project 571 to assassinate Mao Zedong in Shanghai, but Mao was alerted to it and left Shanghai one day ahead of schedule and changed return route back to Beijing. The Lin family, including Lin Biao, Ye Qun, and Lin Liguo, attempted to flee after the coup failed.

Party documents later released state:

"the plane was making for the Soviet Union but was inadequately fueled for such a trip; it also had on board neither navigator nor radio operator. It crashed in Mongolia on September 13, 1971, burning to death all on board.".

However, according to the historian J. D. Spence, "this story is essentially beyond verification, since the photographs later released by the Chinese authorities are of dubious authenticity and details on Lin Biao’s exact plans and on the other plotters are blurred".