The World War II Pacific Memorial Hall, honoring Chinese veterans, has opened in San Francisco.

People young and old, including veterans of the war, attended the opening ceremony. Inside the hall artifacts and photos highlight the war’s horrors and the heroism of Chinese and American soldiers. The memorial’s curators hope it will help educate Americans on China’s role during the war.

​Florence Fang’s museum is dedicated to recording for history the “Asian Holocaust” in which an estimated 20 to 60 million people were slaughtered by the Japanese. It is the first museum to do so in the US. Just as the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, which records the European and Jewish holocaust in which 12 million people died, Florence Fang’s museum is meant to keep this history alive and truthful so that we all are reminded of what happened that it should never happen again. (Many attempts have been made to minimize, change or cover up this period of history and what occurred in Asia during the Japanese War of Aggression.)

The museum is in need of artifacts from the Flying Tiger period. The FTHO has occasionally had offers of artifacts with the request that they be donated to a museum in the US. If you have an artifact that you would like to donate but want it to remain in the US please contact the FTHO and we will see to it that it gets to the World War II Pacific Memorial Hall.

​Three board members of the Flying Tiger Historical Organization accompanied three WW II Flying Tigers to Beijing for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the ending of the Japanese war of aggression.

The Chinese flew these three veterans, (Paul Crawford, David Thompson and Bob Lee) over and back, first class, paid for all their expenses while in China and feted them at several events, awarded medals and gave them a front row seat at the September 3rd parade. After the parade on September 3rd they enjoyed a state lunch in the Great Hall of the People’s Republic of China attended by all state dignitaries and President Xi. That evening an opera was performed depicting and extoling their deeds which were accomplished with the help and cooperation of the Chinese people in WWII.

The next day they were taken by charter airline to visit Zhijiang where Anna Chennault’s museum to the Flying Tigers is located and where the Japanese signed surrender documents on August 21st prior to the official signing in Tokyo Bay on Sept 2nd, 1945.

They were also honored guests at the 5th International symposium. A marvelous play was put on by several hundred children and actors for their enjoyment.

Upon returning to Beijing, the veterans were hosted by Anna Chennault at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse where another theater production was performed for them.

Treated like kings, honored as returning heroes, it is a trip they will all remember and cherish knowing that the Chinese have not forgotten their history and the sacrifices they made on behalf of the Chinese people.

​Buzz Buggy Buzz Buggy has just undergone a complete rebuild and flew for the first time on the 24 of November. Once test flights are successfully conducted we will depart for China.

Weather is good through January and February so we have about a 3-month window to complete the flight in. Due to the time delay and the Christmas holidays approaching we will not plan to fly before the first of January, 2016.

Flight from Australia to China Update

Pilot and weather problems caused us to postpone the flight until August of this year.  Our plans now call for departure from Bathurst, Australia on August 15th. With an August 23rd arrival in Guilin.

Plan:
Day 1 – August 15

1. Bathurst (YBTH) to Longreach (YLRE)

4.8 hours                     666 NM

Day 2 – August 16 

1. Longreach (YLRE) to Darwin (YPDN)

7.4 hours                   1019 NM

Day 3 – August 17 

1. Darwin (YPDN) to Bali (WADD)

6.9 hours                  959 NM

Day 4 – August 18  

1. Bali (WADD) via Jakarta (WIHH) (592) Palembang (WIPP) (311)

Johor (WMKJ) (219)
7.2 hours                   1002 NM

Day 5 – August 19

1. Johor (WMKJ) to U-Tapao (VTBU)

4.7 hours                   654 NM

Day 6 – August 20 

1. U-Tapao (VTBU) to Chiang Mai (VTCC (439) to Mandalay (VYMD) (281)

4.6 hours              627NM

Day 7 -August 21

1. Mandalay (VYMD) to Kunming (ZPPP) (442)

3.2 hours              442NM

Day 9 – August 23   

1. Kunming (ZPPP) to Guilin (ZCKL) (460)

3.4 hours               460NM

​Total Time 42.4                Distance 5828 Nautical Miles

Moon Fun Chin (Chén Wénkuān, 陈文宽) was born in 1913, Zhongshan, Guangdong province in China. His father who was an American citizen of Chinese descent, took the young Moon to Seattle, Washington in USA. Moon’s family moved to Baltimore where he later completed his high school education. At a young age, Moon had already exhibited a keen interest in aviation. Soon after completing his high school education, he decided to enroll in Curtiss Wright Flying School and graduated with a Commercial Pilot Licence.

As good luck would have it, Curtiss Wright had a joint venture with the then China’s Nationalist government to operate a major airline in China. Moon’s uncle had a friend whose name was William Langhorne Bond. In 1931, Bond was the Operations Manager for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), a joint venture airline operated by Curtiss Wright and the Chinese Nationalist government. However, Pan-Am took over from Curtiss Wright In 1933.

Upon hearing that CNAC intended to expand its operations in 1933, Moon’s uncle coaxed his young, energetic nephew to come to China to meet with Bond.

Bond decided to hire Moon for CNAC. However, Moon commenced work in CNAC not as an aviation pilot, but as an aviation mechanic due to his prior work experience before joining CNAC. Two weeks later, Moon was finally given the opportunity to be a co-pilot of an aircraft on a Shanghai-Beijing route. While on the ground, he still multi-tasked as a mechanic. In 1936, Moon was promoted to “captain”. As a captain, he flew on a “Stinson” which was based in Chengdu. Everyday, he flew on the Chengdu – Chongqing route. En route to Chongqing, he picked up tourists who visited the Yangtze River and other passengers who wished to continue on their journey to Chengdu. He flew transport missions that included flights over the Himalayas. From time to time, Moon would fly to Rangoon (Burma) and Hanoi (Vietnam) when needed.

Moon was only 20 years old when he began his flying career as a co-pilot in the Loening. The Loening Seaplane was one of the first of the “shoehorn-float” civilian aircraft that could land and float on sea water.

By the time Moon became a captain, he flew on several other types of aircrafts, such as the Stinson, Douglas Dolphin, Sikorsky S-38, DC-2 and also the DC-3.
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The CNAC was later taken over by the Chinese Nationalist Air Force and in collaboration with the US Air Force during the ensuing second world war years. During the World War II (1939 to 1945), even though Moon was only a civilian aviation pilot, he volunteered actively in frequent military rescue missions and subsequently secured the lives of many US military personnel. Among those military personnel he daringly rescued, was Lt Col James Dolittle who led the USAF squadron in the bombing of Tokyo following the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1942. He rescued Dolittle and transported him from Kuming to Myitkyina, a city in northern Burma. Moon also ferried in his aircraft many American navy personnel to and fro the Gobi Desert where the American Navy had a weather station.

Moon Fun Chin as a young civilian pilot
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Below (left): The Distinguished Flying Cross a military medal awarded for “heroism or extraordinary achievement”, in aerial flight.
 
Below (right): The Air Medal is a military decoration for a person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the USAF, distinguished himself by heroic or meritorious achievement in aerial flight.

There were already two USAF amphibious aircrafts on location but the pilots and crew were reluctant to risk their own lives to execute a rescue operation. Subsequently, Chairman Chin upon hearing the news of the distress situation, personally took upon himself the risk and flew a PBY Catalina “flying boat”; located the distressed crew, landed in the turbulent water, and rescued all of the six personnel. Consequent, in recognition of his heroic acts and meritorious achievements during the Second World War and the post war rescue efforts, he was duly decorated by the US government:

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• The Distinguished Flying Cross: A military medal awarded for his “heroism or extraordinary achievement”, in aerial flight.
• Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal (Silver Star): A military service decoration or his participation and contributions to Americans’ Asia Pacific campaign during the World War II.
• The Air Medal: A military decoration for serving with the USAF, in distinguishing himself with heroic or meritorious achievements in aerial flight.
• The Presidential Unit Citation: Granted to him as being part of the militaryunit that performed an extremely meritorious or heroic act, usually in the face of an armed enemy.

Harboring in mind that Captain Chin was never ever been a military personnel, yet because of his heroic and meritorious service for the US Military, he was duly recognized and awarded these four medals by the American government. Moon Fun Chin became one of the most decorated civilian pilot by the US military. Soon after the war, in 1946, he left CNAC to work for China’s Central Aviation Transport Corporation (CATC) as head of operations. As the head of operations, he initiated the purchase of new aircrafts, recruited and trained pilots and other flight crew. Moreover, he oversaw operations in mainland China when CATC became part of the Civil Air Transport (CAT) of Taiwan in 1947.

Eventually, due to his vast experience in civil aviation, Captain Chin started his own airline called, “Foshing Airline” in 1951 with aviation services from Taipei to Taitung in Taiwan. In 1992, Foshing Airline changed its name to TransAsia Airways. Its Airbus A320 jets had flights around Taiwan. Many years later, Captain Moon Fun Chin retired as Chairman of the airline company he founded and returned to the USA where he is still an American citizen.

Now it is our turn to live up to our pledge to raise our portion of the required funds. We should recognize and remember the deeds of our fathers who rose to the call of duty in a far off land, forging friendships while brining honor and glory to the American people. Certainly the Chinese have demonstrated at every turn that they have not forgotten.
 
Every year we do a tour to China, always the second half of March for better weather and lower prices. Over the last several years we have been honored to have Flying Tigers with us.  Our tour is a one of a kind aviation-oriented tour which includes going to an airfield that the Flying Tigers operated out of in WW II.  Located on this airfield is a cave from which General Claire Chennault ran his operations during part of his time in China. It is accessible but not restored, and the only evidence of its importance is a couple of plaques put up by the Chinese and Madame Chennault.  In years past we have been able to look out over the old airfield and recognize scenery which we have seen in archival film of the Flying Tigers.  Last year the old field was being turned into housing and town sites.  We realized that we would be the last Americans to view this historic sight and the thought crossed our minds that if we didn’t do something to preserve the cave, it would be lost too. We asked the Chinese to give us a proposal for turning the cave into an historical, memorial, and tourist site to honor the Flying Tigers, General Chennault, and the Chinese all of whom fought so bravely against the Japanese invaders.