Dai Zijin (; 26 March 1916 – 18 May 2017) was a Chinese aviator who served in World War II. He was one of the last surviving members of the

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

's Chinese-American Composite Wing. He was referred to as a member of the Flying Tigers, but that was a nickname taken over by the Fourteenth Air Force after the disbanding of the renowned original

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

of the

American Volunteer Group The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to actually see combat was the 1st AVG, pop ...

. Born into an affluent family, Dai spent his early life in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. He enlisted in the military after the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. In 1938 he trained as a cadet in Southwest China. After training in the US and India under American instructors from 1942 to 1943, he became a Air Force pilot. In 1944, Dai and the rest of the crew was tasked with bombing campaign against the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge. They managed to do that at minimum altitude. After the end of the war, Dai was transferred to pilot transport planes. Later, he became a special aviator for aircraft carrying senior generals and moved to Taiwan when the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

lost the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. Dai had long been considered a participant of Shi Dianwen's defection to the mainland in 1951. However, according to ''

Lianhe Wanbao Lianhe Wanbao (; literally Joint Evening News) was a Singapore Chinese afternoon newspaper published daily by SPH Media Trust from 16 March 1983 after the merger between ''Nanyang Siang Pau'' and '' Sin Chew Jit Poh''. ''Lianhe Wanbao'' focu ...

'', Dai did not defect on his own accord. Instead, he was shot in the chest and left arm by Shi. He became a motorcycle coach at a club in Shanghai from 1956 to 1979. Dai died on 18 May 2017 in Shanghai, at the age of 101.

References

1916 births 2017 deaths Republic of China Air Force personnel Chinese aviators Chinese centenarians Men centenarians Taiwanese defectors {{China-mil-bio-stub