 Wei Ling Chen - 1938 Note from my friend and aviation photographer, Bill Larkins: June 28, 2009 Now to the other one. That extension on the prop hub is the important item and so far the only plane that I can find around that period is the Italian-built Caproni 114 biplane fighter with a British Bristol Mercury IV engine. I see by Jane's AWA that the Chinese Air Force did have some Italian planes so maybe this isn't too far out. Bill wtl@earthlink.net Authors: (daughters of Willie Chen) Angie Chen Annie Chen Willie Chen, our father, whose Chinese name is Wei Ling Chen, joined CNAC in 1942~1943(?) and in the same year flew the Hump as a co-pilot until 1945. In recognition of his distinguished service to the airlift operation between India, Burma, and China during WWII, he was certified to life membership (No.1461) by CBI HPA of USA in the early 1990’s. Willie was born in 1919 in Nanjing, China, in a big family with a profound literary heritage. In 1938, the year after the 1937 Japanese invasion of Peking, capital of China, Willie, demonstrating his patriotic enthusiasm, determinedly join the air force to fight against the invaders. Upon graduation from military school with 3 years of flight training, in 1941, he served in the Chinese Air Force and shot down some Japanese fighter planes in defense of China and her people. Later he became a CNAC "Hump" pilot helping to fly troops and cargo over the critical supply routes. His various tasks included transporting gold from India to China for the Chinese army over the Himalayan Mountains many, many times. After WWII, he joined CAT from 1946 till 1949. From the end of 1949 till 1963, Willie was a civil pilot in China. He was also a senior instructor in the highest level civil aviation college in China until 1976. From 1976 to 1979, he worked in the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC). After he successfully completed his final task in his civil aviation service of receiving the earliest batch of Boeing airplanes from the US to China in 1980, he retired and lived in HK for 20 years. During that period of time, Willie continued to make contributions to China by using his extensive overseas and domestic connections to introduce a lot of investment opportunities and high technology to China. In his final stages of fighting against his cancer, a lot of his half-century-long old friends, many Hump pilots, visited him from overseas or called him. He so enjoyed seeing and hearing from his many friends. Although the Hump flying was recorded in the aviation history of China, due to the common knowledge of political causes and circumstances, the living Hump pilots in China were seldom mentioned and barely recognized for their heroic dedication to the country for about 50 years…until the early 2000s. Late in 2005, the Chinese government changed the policy. The appreciation for flying the Hump and the public praise of individual Hump pilots have been gradually getting higher ever since. Regrettably, Willie died in 2001 and never got the chance to see this happy situation. Since 2005, Annie and I have made every effort in searching for our dad's footprint in the Hump flying. We’ve read quite a lot of books/newspapers and paid visits to a dozens of veterans (most were Willie's Hump/CNAC friends) around China and heard many old stories about him. However, we were unable to find any specific details about him such as: With whom did he fly the Hump with? Which troop or group did he belong to prior to CNAC? How many missions did he fly? How many Hump miles did he fly? What specific tasks did he do? What dangers did he encounter? So far, such information has yet to be fully answered. Annie and I, would like to sincerely appeal to those who read this article and care about it… please let us know whatever you know about Willie's Hump flying details and advise whoever might have known Willie during that time period. Please feel free to contact us by email: chenaqus@yahoo.com. Many thanks in advance. Note: All views expressed here are our own. All the photos shown here related to those people, excluding my dad and the two of us and our families, have not yet been asked for their permission to publish here. In case they have some concerns, we give our apology and thank them for their understanding. (Finished on 2009/8/5) Reference: subtitles of attached photos (12 in total) 1A.Willie Chen in uniform in 1938 (Photo at very top of this page) 1B.CBI HPA life membership (No.1461) plaque to Willie Chen  1C.CBI HPA life membership (No.1461) badge to Willie Chen  2. 1991 summer Willie-Angie-Annie   Annie Chen (Angie Chen's younger sister), Angie Chen (dau. of Willie Chen) and Reine Deng (Annie Chen's son)  or be added to the CNAC e-mail distribution list, please let CNAC Web Editor, Tom Moore, know. Thanks! |