Taking to the Skies Over China, Burma and India during WWII: A Decade in the Making

As bombing raids over mainland Europe began in the summer of 1942, leadership from the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) also understood the need for air support in the Pacific, and China-Burma-India Theaters of Operations. In July 1942, the USAAF created the China Air Task Force (CATF). Commanded by Gen. Claire Chennault, CATF would fight alongside the Republic of China Air Force (CAF) to counter the Japanese. Americans and other foreigners had flown for the CAF, and as civilians since the early 1930s, making the creation of this skilled, task force during World War II easily achievable. After Pearl Harbor the U.S. forgave or overlooked Americans who had served the CAF in the 1930s. 

Nearly a decade before the United States entered World War II American interest in Chinese defense efforts began. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, and China started shopping for fighter aircraft. American pilot Robert Short was hired by Boeing to demonstrate their P-12 biplane fighter in Nanjing, China. On February 19, 1932, amidst aerial bombardment by the Japanese, Short, on his own initiative, attacked Japanese aircraft, shooting one down. Three days later he attacked again and was himself shot down. Honoring him with a lavish funeral, the Chinese recognized him as a hero for protecting their people.  His action was so revered that a monument to him in Suzhou, China still exists today.  Men like Short set a precedent for American flyers of bravery, and sympathy for the people of China.

American aviation companies were very interested in the untapped market of Chinese civil and military aviation in the 1930s. Jimmy Doolittle, known later as the famous commander of the Doolittle Raid  on Japan , demonstrated the Curtis Hawk biplane fighter in China in 1933. He out competed an Italian fighter before a crowd of 75,000, leading to  China’s purchase of 36 Hawk fighters. In the same year American William Pawley arrived to work with the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), and Intercontinent Aviation Corporation (IAC) to develop a system for assembling, servicing and flying civil and military aircraft in China. 

Back in the states concern over conflict in China was keenly watched by Chinese-American communities. They expressed their concern by opening “Chinese flight schools” in Portland, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the early 1930s. These community-supported academies trained American born and naturalized citizens as pilots.  Many volunteered as military pilots for China becoming early American participants in the initial stages of World War II in Asia, before the Eagle Squadron in Britain, or the Flying Tigers.

Here are the stories of five;   

• John Poon-Yeung Wong was born in Seattle, and trained to fly in Portland. He flew for the Guangdong Provincial Air Force. In the mid-1930s he attended advanced training with the German Air Force. (Germany was marketing arms to China.) He followed the Guangdong air service by joining the CAF. In the CAF he went from leading squadrons to leading fighter groups while downing six enemy aircraft. In 1940 he was sent to the United States for staff training and became a Chinese Foreign Service Air Attaché.  He later returned to China.

• The early career of Arthur “Art” Chin paralleled his friend John Wong. After German training, he served as an instructor and fighter leader. From 1937 to 1939 he and Wong flew against the Japanese. Chin had five air victories by March 1938. He was arguably the first American to become an ace of World War II. In late 1939 he bailed out of his plane severely burned. His wife was killed in an air raid, and Chenault helped him return to the United States for surgery. In 1944 Chin began flying for CNAC on dangerous cargo routes over the Himalayas.  In 1995 he was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal for wartime cargo and combat flying. A Post Office in Beaverton Oregon is named for him.

• Maj. “Buffalo” Wong Sun-Shui, who was born in Los Angeles, obtained a pilot’s license from a Chinese American program in California, and continued military training in China. He downed a total of seven enemy aircraft, and was fatally wounded on March 14, 1941.
   
• Hazel Ying Lee was born in Portland. She learned to fly by 19, and then went to fly for China in 1933.  Women military pilots were not allowed, so she worked in CAF offices and flew commercial aircraft.  She returned to the United States in 1938 to work on Chinese military purchases. In 1942 she qualified for the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS). She was promoted to be an elite pilot delivering high performance fighters. Lee was an outstanding pilot, an irrepressible character, calm, fearless, and well liked in the WASPS. She died from injuries sustained in a landing accident in November 1944. Lee was recalled saying “I’ll take and deliver anything.”

• “Clifford” “Long Legged” Louie Yim-Qun was Lee’s husband.  Born in Seattle, he trained in Portland, and went to China in 1933.  He quickly became a deputy squadron leader. He flew fighters in China from 1937 until 1942, gaining three victories. After that he was sent to the United States for staff training. After the war he remained in Chinese service.

 In 1937 Chenault came to China as a military aviation advisor. Japan had captured or blockaded China’s coast, and taken control of parts of the interior. Chenault suggested the formation of an international squadron of bombers and attack aircraft. The squadron’s mixed bag of pilots performed inconsistently.  The experience suggested that recruiting uniformly better disciplined airmen might yield better results. That was the seed of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), known as the Flying Tigers.

China’s Minister of Finance proposed a unit “such as the Lafayette Escadrille active in the Asian theater.” American business representatives, including Pawley, promoted the plan to the U.S. government.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the AVG in early 1941 with a confidential executive order. American aviation companies in China then recruited ex-military American pilots and ground crew. The Chinese government reimbursed CAMCO for services, hiding direct American involvement. One hundred American aircraft for Britain were diverted to Mingaladon Burma, where pilots and ground crew began training in November 1941. Ultimately three AVG squadrons would fly missions in World War II. 

A confluence of events including support from the Chinese-American community and the American business community, along with the foresight of the AAF led to an air presence in China, Burma and India that aided in the ultimate victory against Japan.

Suggested Reading

Anthony R. Carrozza, William D. Pawley: The Extraordinary Life of the Adventurer, Entrepreneur, and Diplomat Who Cofounded the Flying Tigers (Sterling, VA,Potomac Books, Inc., Mar 31, 2012)

Raymond Cherung, Aces of the Republic of China Air Force (Oxford, Osprey, 2015)

Michael Little, World War 2 Flying Ace Arthur Chin’s Amazing true Story, October 7, 2015.

Popular Aviation (Flying Magazine), Oct. 1933, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Found on Google Books)

Popular Aviation (Flying Magazine), Oct. 1937, Vol. 21, No. 5 (Found on Google Books)

Robert E. van Patten, Before the Flying Tigers, Air Force Magazine, June 1999