Category Archives: Moon Chin

Photos of some of the airline’s Chinese personnel, late 1940s

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Gregory

Jason Chou, son of CNAC co-pilot Bing Zhou, passed along these photos. After completing college in Kunming, Bing Zhou joined the China National Aviation Corporation in 1944, and he flew more than 130 Hump trips before the war ended. He … Continue reading →

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The Douglas Dolphin – a photo gallery

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Gregory

Continuing with my recent theme of posting thematically linked photo galleries related to the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), subject of my book, China’s Wings, here’s a gallery of Douglas Dolphin photos. Douglas only built 58 Dolphins, and two of … Continue reading →

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Photos from the 2012 CNAC reunion

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Gregory

As I do every year, I had a marvelous time at the just completed CNAC reunion. (If you don’t know about CNAC, the legendary China National Aviation Corporation, here’s an explanation. It’s one of the best aviation stories of all … Continue reading →

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CNAC’s two senior pilots, plus links to Moon Chin stories

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Gregory

The 2012 CNAC reunion is currently running strong. Last night was the annual party at Moon Chin’s house, which was wonderful, as always. Pete and Moon are both among China’s Wings main supporting characters, and I’m tremendously grateful to both … Continue reading →

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Shanghai glamour in the Astor House

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Gregory

A photographer friend, Robert Cassidy, recently emailed these photos he took in Shanghai’s famous Astor House Hotel, the hotel in which Moon Chin completed the deal that led to him leaving CNAC and becoming operations manager of Central Air Transport … Continue reading →

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Moon Chin’s first air raid, part II

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Gregory

Continued from yesterday… another one of China’s Wings’ outtakes. The bomber peeled from formation and banked toward them. It leveled out and bore toward them at two-hundred feet, targeting the Generalissimo’s hanger. Moon could see straight into the airplane’s plexiglas … Continue reading →

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Moon Chin’s first air raid, part I

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Gregory

This is the second part of this story, one of China’s Wings outtakes, describing what happened to the various CNAC pilots during the dark days of August, 1937, when a colossal battle between Japan and China erupted in Shanghai. Here … Continue reading →

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Evacuating Shanghai, August 1937

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Gregory

To maintain narrative momentum and keep focused on the story’s main character, William Langhorn Bond, I excised most of the details of CNAC’s evacuation of Shanghai from China’s Wings chapter 8, “Things Fall Apart,” which happens in mid-August, 1937 at … Continue reading →

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The Last Consolidated Commodore

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Gregory

Building on the CNAC and the Consolidated Commodore post I made yesterday, a few weeks ago, Jerry Butsko, a volunteer archivist at the San Diego Air and Space Museum who’d read China’s Wings, called me and brought to my attention … Continue reading →

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CNAC and the Consolidated Commodore

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Gregory

The Consolidated Commodore is the plane Moon Chin flew during the Hankow evacuation in October, 1938 (China’s Wings, Chapter 14), and he’s quite possibly the last Commodore pilot alive. An all-metal monoplane flying boat originally designed to meet US Navy … Continue reading →

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