Arthur Chin

Arthur Chin
Born	October 23, 1913(1913-10-23) Portland, Oregon
Died	September 3, 1997(1997-09-03) (aged 83)
Allegiance	Canton Provincial Air Force, National Revolutionary Army
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	Second Sino-Japanese War
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross

Major Arthur Chin (Chinese: 陳瑞鈿; pinyin: Chén Ruìtián; Cantonese: Chin Shui-Tin; October 23, 1913 - September 3, 1997) was an American pilot and a Second Sino-Japanese War fighter ace.

Biography

Chin was born in Portland, Oregon to a Chinese father of Cantonese origin and a Caucasian mother of Peruvian background. Motivated by the Japanese invasion of China, Chin enrolled in flight school in 1932. Along with 15 other Chinese Americans, he left for China and joined the Guangdong Provincial Air Force as the first and original group of American volunteer combat aviators, and ultimately integrated into the central government's air force under the KMT. After completion of additional aerial-gunnery training in Munich Germany, he returned to China for combat duty in which he was credited with destroying nine enemy aircraft between 1937-1939. In 1939, while flying a Gloster Gladiator, the fighter in which he scored 6.5 of his 8.5 aerial victories, he was hit by enemy fire and forced to bail out of his burning aircraft, and although he parachuted to safety, he suffered serious burn injuries. Nevertheless, after several years of surgery and recovery, and an escape from the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong,^[1] he returned to China in 1944 to fly supplies over the Himalayas, a route known as the "Hump".

Chin is recognized as America's first ace in World War II. A half-century after the war ended, the U.S. government recognized Chin as an American veteran by awarding him the Distinguished Flying Cross. About a month after Chin died, on October 4, 1997, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas as the first American ace.

After his aviation career finished, Chin was a postal worker in his hometown of Portland. On January 29, 2008, Congressman Representative David Wu (D-Oregon) introduced House Resolution 5220 to name a United States Post Office in Aloha, Oregon after Major Arthur Chin as the "Major Arthur Chin Post Office Building", it was unanimously approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. President Bush signed it into law on May 7, 2008 。 ^[2][3][4]

References

1. ^ Air Enthusiast #121 January/February 2006 article by Thomas, Andrew Oriental Gladiators The combat debut for the Gloster biplane pp73-75
2. ^ Congress honors Chinese WWII Hero
3. ^ GovTrack: H.R. 5220: Text of Legislation
4. ^ White House News Release

External links

• Biplane Fighter Aces: China: Major 'Arthur' 'Art' Chin Shui-Tin a more detailed history of his military career.
• Major Shui-Tin "Arthur" Chin "First of the Tigers" Chinese-American Hero is another biography.
• Photo of Arthur Chin

Persondata
Name	Chin, Arthur
Alternative names
Short description	American World War II flying ace
Date of birth	October 23, 1913
Place of birth	Portland, Oregon
Date of death	September 3, 1997
Place of death