Moon Chin’s favorite airplane-the Douglas Dolphin
The Dolphins’ wings were skinned with plywood, and the nails tended to loosen with the impact of each water landing. One of Moon Chin’s copilot duties was to no...
Tag: Outtakes from China’s Wings
Stories that didn’t quite make it into the book China’s Wings, by Gregory Crouch, which celebrates the life and times of the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC)
CNAC and the Long March
it was surely no coincidence that eighty-six thousand soldiers of the Communist Red Army began crossing the Yadu River that day, taking the first steps of a yea...
Gas streetlamps sputtered…
All through my research process I’ve been amazed at what a good lens CNAC proved to be for seeing the larger story of China’s struggle to unify and...
the engine coughed, sputtered twice, and died
Moon Chin makes a forced landing in a Loening Air Yacht
Only three things seemed able to hold his interest…
Chuck Sharp is another of the CNAC stalwarts I’d like to introduce. He made his own way to China in 1933 and caught on with CNAC because his 1,000 hours o...
Hugh Leslie Woods and a favor for the U.S. Navy
Woody swallowed his irritation and agreed. Back in Hankow, an errand boy delivered a wrapped package to Woody’s apartment, and, as promised, it was only six or ...
Moon Chin Learns to Fly
Moon Chin finished the mechanics course and thought he might be able to catch on as an airline mechanic. He cast around for openings, but the recession was slip...
Lindbergh’s crossing captivates Moon Chin
A month after Moon Chin’s thirteenth birthday, on May 21 and 22, 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic, a feat that catapulted Lindbergh to the ...
The Economic Opportunities in a place called Baltimore
Moon Chin crossed North America in a train, sitting upright on a wooden bench with his face glued to the window, full of wonder at the sights of the new land. A...
Moon Chin languishes in an INS gulag
Joe Chin wasn’t alone in having his citizenship minted in the San Francisco earthquake. Thousands of other Chinese had seized the same opportunity, and like Joe...