Arthur Chin was an American pilot who participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chin strongly felt a need to defend his father’s homeland when Japan invaded China. He subsequently joined the first group of U.S. volunteer combat aviators. Chin is recognized as the United States’ first flying ace in World War II.
Portland Chinese Flying Club
Born in Portland, Oregon on October 23, 1913, Arthur Chin enrolled in Portland’s Chinese Flying Club after the Japanese invaded China. He earned his pilot license in 1932 and subsequently left for China to join the Canton Provincial Air Force. Thirteen other Chinese American pilots accompanied him. John Buffalo Huang Xinrui and Hazel Ying Lee sailed east with Chin.
Flying for China
General Chen Jitang led the first and original group of American volunteer combat aviators. He sent them Lagerlechfeld, Germany for additional aerial-gunnery training with the Luftwaffe. During the Battle of Shanghai, Arthur Chin initially flew in combat with the 28th Pursuit Squadron of the 5th Pursuit Group of Curtiss Hawk IIs led by Capt. Chan Kee-Wong. The squadron engaged Japanese aircraft, barely able to keep up with the sleek and fast Mitsubishi G3M bomber. Chin succeeded in shooting down many including the flight leader, Lieutenant Osugi. With punctured fuel tanks, the bomber struggled to return to return to safety but crashed when he ran out of fuel. Osugi’s bomber became Chin’s first air-to-air kill despite the fact that he did not see the crash.
Arthur Chin later commanded the 28th Pursuit Squadron along with Captain Chan Kee-Wong. This resulted in two smaller squadrons to serve in the northern and southern fronts of the war against Japanese advances. Lieutenant Chin soon transitioned into the more powerful and much faster Gloster Gladiator fighter plane. He was credited with destroying nine enemy aircraft between 1937 and 1939.
A Bail Out!
In 1939, while flying a Gladiator, Chin took enemy fire and bailed out of the burning aircraft. Although he parachuted to safety, he suffered serious burn injuries. Following several years of surgery, recovery, and an escape from the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Chin returned to China in to fly supplies over the Himalayas, a route known as the Hump.
America’s First Ace of WWII
A half-century after the war ended, the United States government recognized Arthur Chin as an American veteran by awarding him the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. About a month after Chin died, on October 4, 1997, he became an inductee in the Hall of Fame of the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas as the first American ace of World War II.