 Tensions between the two forces were already high; artillery duels were ongoing since the first crisis in 1954, and the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had recently relocated 200 MiG-15s and MiG-17s to airfields on the mainland opposite Taiwan.According to Colonel Howard "Scrappy" Johnson, one of the F-104 pilots deployed to Taiwan, the Starfighters' presence was so the PLAAF would "track them on their radar screens...and sit back and scratch their head in awe.