Three Aviatrixes

In the US, the ratio of male to female pilots is 90% to 10%, and worldwide, the percentage of females who fly planes drops to 6%. And this is in our current time.

Given this statistic, I find it truly extraordinary that three Chinese American women ascended to become aviatrixes in the 1930s and 40s against all odds! Considering that the Chinese Exclusion Act was in full force and the extreme gender bias of that time, these three fearless females flew into the bright blue and were able to achieve extraordinary things, even by today’s standards.

Katherine Sui Fun Cheung

Many consider Katherine Sui Fun Cheung the first Asian American woman to get a commercial pilot license in the United States and internationally.

What makes Katherine’s story even more exceptional is that she was born in China and did not immigrate to the US until her late teens. But she quickly assimilated and fell in love with flying while learning to maneuver the steering wheel of a car. Her father taught Catherine to drive when she was 17 at the Dycer Airfield in Los Angeles. While he was teaching her how to shift gears, her attention was diverted by the amazing airplanes taking off into the big blue sky. The student driver was completely mesmerized and made a fierce wish to become a pilot.

Nearly a decade would pass before Katherine had the chance to pursue her passion. After studying music at the University of Southern California, she left school and married her father’s business partner. The couple had two daughters, but Katherine never gave up on her dream of flying. When a male cousin offered to teach her, she jumped at the opportunity. As soon as Katherine took to the sky, it was evident that she was a natural at aviation. She quickly logged 100 hours of solo flight and got her pilot’s license. She went on to become a stunt pilot and was invited to join the prestigious Ninety-Nines, an organization for female aviators co-founded by Amelia Earhart.
(You can read a full version of Katherine’s flying adventures when you purchase
The Book of Awesome Asian Women and download the special Bonus.)

Hazel Ying Lee

The other two Chinese American female pilots flew for WASPs ( Women Airforce Service Pilots). In 1942, during the height of WWII, there was a severe shortage of combat pilots (who were all males), and WASP was formed to recruit and train women to fly non-combatant missions. More than 25,000 women applied. Only 1,830 were accepted into flight training. Of those, 1,074 completed the training.
In 1943, Hazel Ying Lee became the first Chinese American woman to fly for the United States military as a WASP member.
WASPs were considered civilians and, therefore, received no military benefits. WASPs bought their own uniforms and paid for their room and board. They flew the least desirable missions. Lee delivered aircraft from the converted Detroit car factories to places where they would be shipped to Europe and the Pacific. During an emergency landing in Kansas, she was chased by a farmer with a pitchfork who thought she was an invading Japanese soldier.

Tragically, Lee was killed in a P-63 accident on November 25, 1944. She was the first Chinese-American woman to fly for the United States military and the first Chinese-American woman to die in service to her country.
Sixty years after her passing, the State of Oregon honored Hazel Ying Lee by inducting her into the Aviation Hall of Honor, finally acknowledging her significant contributions to aviation history.

Maggie Gee

Our third Chinese American aviatrix was born in 1923 in Berkeley, CA. She was named Gee Mei Gue also known as Maggie Gee. Despite being a third-generation American, Maggie could not escape the racial tension that was always present and intensified with the Immigration Act of 1924, which barred immigration from Asia. This overtly anti-immigrant policy was passed to "preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity."

Young Maggie would spend many hours at the Oakland Airport, watching planes take off and land. She fell in love with flight and dreamed of being a pilot. The much-celebrated Amelia Earhart used to fly her plane there, and Maggie fondly recalled waving to Earhart and was elated when she waved back!

Gee enrolled at the University of Berkeley but withdrew in 1941 as WWII began. She and her mother became part of the iconic “Rosie the Riveter” brigade of women who worked in factories and shipyards to produce much-needed ammunition and other war supplies while the men fought overseas.
While flexing her muscles in service to her country at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Maggie learned about the WASP program and jumped at the opportunity to learn how to fly an airplane. She and two other workers pooled their money and bought a car for $25. Then, they packed their bags and drove to the Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, the training center for WASP.
Maggie was a quick and avid aviation student and completed the rigorous training to receive her pilot’s license. Because Gee was such a good pilot, she trained male pilots on using flight instruments and even co-piloted B-17 bombers in mock dogfights to train bomber gunners.
Like Hazel Lee, she was mistaken many times for being Japanese and had to contend with the endless trials of racial prejudice.

When the WASP program was deactivated in 1944, Maggie Gee returned to California and resumed her studies at the University of California in Berkeley. She earned a degree in physics and went on to build a stellar career at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Beyond her scientific contributions, Gee was a dedicated political activist, working to combat racial bias and end housing discrimination. She also served on the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party and was active in the Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus.

It took sixty-six years, but in 2010, the U.S. government finally gave official recognition to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Surviving members were invited to Washington, D.C., to be honored for their remarkable service during WWII. Maggie Gee, 87 at the time, was part of the delegation. She received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Obama.

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References:

Hafner, Katie. 2020a. “Overlooked No More: When Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee Soared the Skies.” The New York Times, May 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/obituaries/hazel-ying-lee-and-maggie-gee-overlooked.html.

“Katherine Cheung.” n.d. Katherine Cheung. https://katherinecheungus.com/.

“The Katherine Cheung Story: How a Chinese American Woman Became a Pilot in the 1930s.” ABC7 Los Angeles, May 21, 2021. https://abc7.com/katherine-sui-fun-cheung-asian-american-history-female-pilots-chinese/10667993/.

“Maggie Gee (U.S. National Park Service).” https://www.nps.gov/people/maggie-gee.htm

https://www.faa.gov/”ites/faa.gov/files/about/history/pioneers/Hazel_Ying_Lee.pdf