United States Army Air Forces 2nd Lieutenant Wah Kau Kong (
Chinese: 江華九;
Pinyin: Jiāng Huájiǔ; born January 17, 1919 in
Honolulu,
Hawaii; killed in action over
Blomberg,
Germany, February 22, 1944) was the first
Chinese American fighter pilot. Kong became a chemist after graduating from the
University of Hawaii and joined the United States Army Air Forces after the
Attack on Pearl Harbor. After completing flight school, Kong became a
P-51 Mustang fighter pilot in England. He claimed 1.5 victories before being killed in action on a mission over Germany in late February 1944.
He recorded the highest national score in his entrance examination and was accepted into the aviation cadet training program. Kong graduated from flight school in May 1943, becoming the first Chinese American fighter pilot. He subsequently trained on the
P-39 Airacobra, and on October 23 Kong boarded a convoy for England. He was assigned to the
353rd Fighter Squadron of the
354th Fighter Group at
RAF Boxted, flying a
P-51B Mustang, which he named "Chinaman's Chance" on one side and "No Tickee No Washee" on the other. On February 11, 1944, Kong claimed his first victory, an
Fw 190, while returning from a bomber escort mission to
Frankfurt, which was his twelfth mission. His victory was mentioned in
Time magazine on February 28.
On his fourteenth mission, Kong was shot down over
Blomberg, Germany on February 22. Kong shared in a kill
[6] of a
Messerschmitt Me 410 with squadron leader Jack T. Bradley and was apparently hit by a stray bullet by the aircraft's rear gunner as Kong finished the plane off. Kong's aircraft exploded and disintegrated in the air, and his remains were buried by the Germans two days later. In the early summer of 1945, after the end of the war in Europe, his childhood friend,
Mun Charn Wong located his remains which were then re-buried at the
Netherlands American Cemetery. After the war, Wau Kau Kong was re-buried in the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, gravesite SECTION D SITE 453. His friend Wong initiated the Wah Kau Kong Memorial Award Scholarship at the University of Hawaii in his honour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wah_Kau_Kong
