Katherine Sui Fun Cheung

Katherine Cheung
Full name Katherine Sui Fun Cheung
Born (1904-12-12)December 12, 1904
Canton, China
Died 2003, age 98
Nationality Chinese / American
Education Los Angeles Conservatory of Music
Aviation career
Known for first Chinese-American woman to receive a commercial flying license in the United States
Flight license 1932

Katherine Sui Fun Cheung (Chinese: 张瑞芬;[1] 1904–2003) was an Asian American (Chinese-American) aviator and the first Chinese-American woman to receive a commercial flying license in the United States.[2][3][4][5][6]

Early life

Katherine Sui Fun Cheung was born on 12 December 1904 in Canton, China. At age 17, she moved to the United States to study music at several institutions including the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and the University of Southern California.[3]

Aviation Training

Cheung took flying lessons with the Chinese Aeronautical Association in Los Angeles in March 1932 and received her commercial flying license, the first Chinese-American woman to do so in the United States.[5] She joined Amelia Earhart's Ninety-Nines Club in 1933 and began to enter air shows and competitive air events, such as the Chatterton Air Race.[3][3][5] At that time women were not allowed to enrol in flying schools in China, and only 1% of licensed pilots in the U.S. were women.[7][7][7]

In 1935 Cheung joined the Ninety Nines club for women pilots, an association founded by Amelia Earhart.[8]

Following the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, Katherine Cheung decided to return to China and open a flying school.[7] However, her cousin was soon killed while flying her airplane and Cheung's father, worrying for Katherine's safety, made her promise to give up flying.[7] She died of cancer at age 98 in 2003.[9][10]

Cheung is the subject of a 2016 documentary entitled Aviatrix: The Katherine Sui Fun Chen Story.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Ya-chen Chen. New Modern Chinese Women and Gender Politics.
  2. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3446400050.html
  3. 1 2 3 4 Karen Bush Gibson (2013). Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys. Chicago Review Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-61374-543-4.
  4. ↑ Lauren Joichin Nile (20 January 2014). RACE: My Story & Humanity's Bottom Line: More than a Book.......It's an Experience. iUniverse. p. 398. ISBN 978-1-4917-0309-0.
  5. 1 2 3 Zhao, Xiaojian (2002). Remaking Chinese America: Immigration, Family, and Community, 1940-1965. Rutgers University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8135-3011-6.
  6. ↑ "'China's Amelia Earhart' Got Her Wings Here". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.wai.org/pioneers/2000pioneers.cfm
  8. ↑ Woo, Elaine (7 September 2003). "Katherine Cheung, 98; Immigrant Was Nation's First Licensed Asian American Woman Pilot". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015 – via web.
  9. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-6964583.html
  10. ↑ Woo, Elaine (7 September 2003). "Katherine Cheung, 98; Immigrant Was Nation's First Licensed Asian American Woman Pilot". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015 – via web.
  11. ↑ Moy, Ed (2000-01-01), Aviatrix: The Katherine Sui Fun Cheung Story, retrieved 2016-09-16

External links

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