Happy Birthday to Arthur Chin (d. 1997), born this date in 1913 in Portland, Oregon. Chins father was from Táishān in Guǎngdōng, China, while his mother was from Peru. Following the invasion of Manchuria in late 1931, Chin undertook flight training from a private flying school in Portland. He traveled to China and volunteered for duty with the Guangdong Provincial Air Force. On 1 December 1932 he was accepted as a Warrant Probationary Pilot, and on 23 February 1933, was promoted to Second Lieutenant. His flight training was completed with at the Luftwaffe airbase at Lagerlechfeld, south of Augsburg in Bavaria. On 1 September 1936, he was promoted to First Lieutenant. His first assignment was as a flight instructor, but on 10 June 1937, was made Vice Commander of the 28th Pursuit Squadron, 5th Pursuit Group, commanded by under the command of Capt. Chan Kee-Wong (another volunteer from the United States). On 15 August 1937, this squadron deployed to Jiangsu Province, at the Chuyung Airfield near Nanjing, at that time the capital of the Republic of China under the Kuomintang. Early in the morning of 16 August 1937, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service launched a raid against Chuyung Airfield with a group of six twin-engined Mitsubishi G3M bombers. They arrived over Chuyung at 10:55 AM with almost no warning. Chin was one of only two pilots in the 28th able to get airborne. Flying the export version of the Curtiss P-6 Hawk, Chin attacked on of the bombers. He scored 58 hits, puncturing the fuel tanks and wounding a machine-gunner. When last seen, it was descending, streaming smoke and fuel. The bomber made it as far as Cheju-do off the southern coast of Korea, by dumping all non-essential equipment. It was his first credited kill. He racked up seven more over the next two years, rising to the rank of major, and earning the Republic of Chinas Five Star Medal, Six Star Medal, Order of Renaissance and Honour 3rd Class (twice), Order of Resplendent Banner with Special Rosette, Medal of Victorious Garrison 2nd Class, and Awe-Inspiring Medal 3rd Grade. Chins final action came on 27 December 1939, when he was shot down over Kwangsi, suffering terrible burns to his face and hands. He lay wounded in a rice paddy for several days until found and rescued by Chinese soldiers. He faced agonizing surgeries and years in and out of hospitals. After the war, he returned home to Portland and raised a family. The U.S. government recognized Chin as an American veteran by awarding him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Not long after his death, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas, credited as the first American ace of World War II. The United States Post Office in Aloha, Oregon, in 2008 was renamed the Major Arthur Chin Post Office Building in his honor.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 02:27:15 +0000
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