Aviation in China

My interest in aviation began when I met my husband in 1999. He’s a pilot and eventually I decided I’d have to take an interest in his work if I ever wanted to understand what the heck he is talking about all the time. Here I am, all these years later, working as an instructor teaching aviation English and private pilot theory in a flight school in China. I intend to post here links to interesting research I uncover on the Internet, specifically related to my main aviation interests:

• General Aviation in China
• Women in Aviation, both in China and the West
• The history of foreign flight instructors in China (betcha didn’t know Americans were teaching CAF cadets in the 1930s!)
• The Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group and the USAAF Units that came after)
• Taiwan’s secret U2 pilots – the Black Cats.

Aviation in China

For an overview of aviation in history in China, visit the China History Forum and this post specifically.

I’m especially interested in women in aviation in China. Several women flew military combat missions alongside the men in the Chinese Air Force’s fight against the Japanese in the 1940s. (See the China History Forum post) My question is, today why are there so few female pilots in China!!!???

Here is a fascinating story by Clare Boothe, an American playwright married to the publisher of Time, who spent time in WWII China and had the opportunity to see China from the air. I intend to further comment on her writing and contrast it to China as seen from the air today.

Please add a comment if you have information or links to websites related to aviation history in China!