A hero of Chinese aviation, Chinese American civilian pilot Moon Fun Chin was one of the first, if not the first, to fly and chart the Hump in World War II, opening the way for the airlift to resupply China by the Flying Tigers.

Though less known than General Claire Chennault's Tiger military pilots, Moon became famous for carrying out dangerous rescues, evacuations and secret missions that other pilots refused, both over sea and land.

He received four medals for heroism and distinguished service from the US Air Force, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, and a citation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also flew the Hump.

And though the Flying Tigers are renowned for their heroism, few people are aware that the China National Aviation Corp (CNAC) also regularly flew the treacherous 800-kilometer Hump. Historian Liu Xiaotong writes in "Flying The Hump" (2005) that from August 1942 to 1943, CNAC flew the Hump more than 9,546 times, delivering at least 100,000 tons of war materiel. It lost at least 150 employees (pilots, crew and ground crew) and 46 aircraft.

Moon was CNAC's ace pilot and pioneer, the first in China to receive a commercial pilot's license. He was the first to chart the Hump route in 1941 for the Chinese government. He mostly flew passengers, meaning he had to fly especially fast because high altitude caused discomfort. Superb flying skills were required, and he had them in abundance.

Starting as a mechanic, he eventually became a pilot, copilot, captain and eventually founder of his own airline, Foshing Airlines in Taiwan, which he eventually sold.

Today Moon is 99.

Inspired by Lindburgh

Born in Guangdong Province near Macau, he moved to the States when he was nine, living first in Seattle, Washington, and then Baltimore, Maryland, with his Chinese American father and Chinese mother.

Moon recently touched down in Shanghai during a visit for the opening of an aviation museum in Beijing and spoke with Shanghai Daily in an interview, in person and by e-mail.

"I am Shanghai connected," said Moon, who now lives in San Francisco.

"My wife (Elsie) is Shanghainese. We got married in Shanghai (in 1936). If it hadn't been for 1949, when I realized that my house had been taken over, I would have stayed here," he said.

"I can still fly just about anything except jets," he said, chatting in the Aviation Lounge at The Peninsula Shanghai. "I hope to be remembered as a person who enjoyed flying and always wanted to fly."

And so he did. The boy was inspired by Lindbergh's solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in a single-seat, single-engine aircraft from New York to Paris on May 20-21, 1927.

"After that, most of the young boys wanted to fly, just like Lindbergh," Moon said.

Moon enrolled in the Curtiss Wright Flying School in Baltimore and graduated with a mechanic's certificate and commercial pilot's license in 1932.

"I enjoyed flying so much. I was nervous until I got into the cockpit where I felt I was in control and had a job to do," he said.

Because of discrimination against Chinese in the United States, Moon and many other Chinese moved to China for aviation opportunities. But at first, due to discrimination in Chinese aviation then dominated by Caucasian pilots, he remained a copilot, never a captain of his own aircraft. It wasn't until the war against Japanese invaders intensified and most Western pilots left, that he got his chance in his homeland.

"In the 1930s, the Americans were not hiring Chinese pilots. That is the reason many Chinese pilots from Canada and the US went to China," Moon recalled. "Chinese also have the ability to fly aircraft."

In April 1936, he was checked out and became a captain. He worked for the China National Aviation Corp, initially a joint venture between the Chinese government and Americans. He initially flew the route between the wartime capital of Chongqing and Chengdu in Sichuan Province, piloting a Stinson. He was certified to fly a number of other aircraft and frequently flew seaplanes.

Soon after his promotion, the Japanese invaded and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) began. CNAC was taken over by the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, cooperating with the US Air Force to deliver war materiel and rescue refugees. Moon and other pilots flew many night missions, even in stormy weather, because much of the airspace was controlled by Japan.

Once, while flying the Hump, Moon's windshield frosted over, he had zero visibility and had to descend and fly in circles for 15 minutes until the ice melted and he could see again. Many pilots crashed because they were buffeted off course by winds, ran out of fuel, and crashed. There were no rescue planes.

"The sandstorms made the sky foggy and unclear, and much of the land was barren and desert, with no landmarks for pilots to use for reference."

After the Chinese Air Force was decimated by the Japanese, Moon also flew then Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife around the country on a few wartime inspections.

"I felt pretty good that they asked me to fly and work for him (Chiang)," Moon said, remembering Chiang as a "good passenger" who often visited the cockpit of the converted passenger DC-3 to ask questions, such as arrival time. Other than that he didn't say much.

Exploits

Over the years, Moon carried out numerous daring missions and, though he never served in the US military, he is considered a US military veteran. Though many missions were dangerous, he recalled one that was particularly daunting. "My most dangerous mission was a secret delivery of communications equipment to monitor Japanese movement and intelligence gathering in early 1945," he said. "I delivered it to an inaccessible place north of Hong Kong and west of Amoy (Xiamen, Fujian Province). The Japanese controlled the airspace and there were no roads."

But in his most famous mission, the one that earned him the title "Chinese flying hero," Moon flew a DC-3 carrying US aviation hero Jimmy Doolittle from Chongqing to Calcutta via Myitkyina, Burma (now Myanmar). Doolittle, who had led a famous bombing raid on Japan's main islands in April 1942, was on the first leg of a journey back to the States.

What made headlines was Moon's detour to Myitkyina airport where he rescued stranded and terrified CNAC staff as Japanese were closing in. He overloaded his DC-3, capacity 21, with 78 people. Before arriving, he had to stop on a dirt road and camouflage the aircraft to avoid detection by incoming Japanese pilots. Then he proceeded to Myitkyina.

"I remember very clearly that when we landed, people surrounded the plane and kept coming on board. Until the plane was fully loaded, no one would move away," Moon said. He himself almost had to climb over the shoulders of the crowd to get aboard.

"Doolittle asked me if I knew what I was doing," Moon recalled. "I told him 'yes'."

Moon calculated that there was leeway in capacity and that Asians weighed less than Caucasians. He decided to rescue as many people as possible and let women, children and the elderly aboard first.

The plane lumbered along, the overload clearly a problem. The rear began to shudder and Moon tried not to imagine the plane skidding off the rapidly approaching runway. As the runway was about to run out, he pulled back on the throttle and barely managed to take off at the minimum required speed of 75 miles per hour. That set a DC-3 capacity record, which stands today.

Doolittle, a test pilot, stunt pilot and US Air Force combat flight instructor, praised Moon as a "goddamn good pilot."

Moon's heroism was covered by the US media. He and Doolittle appeared on the August cover of Flying Aces magazine.

Chinese people started calling Moon the "Sky Hero."

"No, I cannot say I'm a hero. I just try to do my best in my work," Moon told Shanghai Daily.

Years later, in 1954, he carried out another rescue considered a mission impossible.

The crew of a US Air Force C-199 had bailed out over stormy seas between Taiwan, Chinese mainland and Guam, a US territory. Moon had heard the distress call and volunteered, flying his PBY Catalina seaplane to the site.

When Moon arrived, 12 aircraft, including two seaplanes, were circling, but both the US Air Force and Nationalist Air Force refused to attempt the rescue because conditions were so dangerous that rescuers could be lost.

Moon, who had left CNAC and founded Foshing Airlines in Taiwan, didn't hesitate and took off in his seaplane to rescue the crew.

"From a high altitude, I looked down and thought I saw someone waving his hands, seemingly an SOS. After landing I realized it was actually the motion of a dead passenger and the white caps," Moon said.

If military pilots thought the mission was too difficult, why did Moon take it on?

"I thought nothing would be too much. I only knew they needed help," he said.

Although Beijing was his destination on his recent trip, Moon spent a few days in Shanghai, where he has a strong emotional connection. After the interview, he went to the parking apron on the roof of The Peninsula Shanghai, pointing to Wusong Port on the Huangpu River. "That's where the Japanese troops started taking Shanghai," he said.

Moon speaks English and Cantonese, while his wife speaks Shanghainese.

"I talk to her in English and she answers back to me in Shanghainese," he said. "In the beginning, when I met her, I didn't know how to speak to her." He learned fast and language wasn't a barrier. After more than 60 years of marriage, they have their own language of tacit communication.

Moon said he particularly likes Shanghai cuisine, particularly hairy crab, xiaolongbao (steamed dumplings) and shengjianbao (pan-fried dumplings.)