"Clifford" Louie Yim-qun (; 1914–1999), also known as Louie Yen-chung (), was a Chinese-American pilot and military officer in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

. Louie's father was from

Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China *Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China **Gre ...

county,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, but Louie was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. He obtained a private pilot's license at the Portland Flying School,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and went to China in 1933. One of the other pilots in Portland was

Hazel Ying Lee Hazel Ying Lee (; August 24, 1912 – November 25, 1944) was an American pilot who flew for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Early life Lee was born in Portland, Oregon. Her parents were Yuet Lee and Ssiu Lan Wong, f ...

, who later became his wife. She was the first

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

to volunteer for the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

. Louie died in 1999 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Military career

Louie Yim-qun traveled to China to participate in 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 ...

. He became Deputy Commander of the 28th Fighter Squadron of the 5th Fighter Group in 1937, equipped with the

Curtiss Hawk II The Curtiss P-6 Hawk is an American single-engine biplane fighter introduced into service in the late 1920s with the United States Army Air Corps and operated until the late 1930s prior to the outbreak of World War II. Design and development Th ...

, and first saw combat while stationed at Jurong Airbase in the Nanjing defense sector as the War of Resistance-World War II broke out, and then transferring to the northern front of the war in China at the

Battle of Taiyuan The Japanese offensive called 太原作戦 or the Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a vi ...

with Captain Chan Kee-Wong on September 16, 1937, he shot down a

Nakajima Ki-4 The Nakajima Ki-4 was the last biplane reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese Imperial Army. It saw combat service in Manchukuo and in north China during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Design and development The Ki-4 was i ...

on September 18. Louie would then be sent to the southern-front of the war in Guangdong province while transitioning into the

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

beginning in 1938; Louie shot down three Japanese aircraft during the war, while some sources credits Louie with five victories, but this cannot be verified. While the wartime capital of China was pushed back to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

following the Fall of Wuhan, both sea and land routes for badly needed war supplies and high-octane aviation fuel were mostly cut off, especially after the loss of

Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of ...

in the

Battle of South Guangxi The Battle of South Guangxi () was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In November 1939, the Japanese landed on the coast of Guangxi and captured ...

and increasing threat of the

Japanese invasion of French Indochina The was a short undeclared military confrontation between Japan and France in northern French Indochina. Fighting lasted from 22 to 26 September 1940; the same time as the Battle of South Guangxi in the Sino-Japanese War, which was the main ...

, Major Louie Yim-qun's 28th Fighter Squadron, now equipped with

Polikarpov I-15 The Polikarpov I-15 (russian: И-15) was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (''russian: Чайка'', "Seagull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was o ...

fighters, has been reassigned with the defense of Sichuan. On September 13, 1940, in what would be the introduction and first aerial combat engagement for the state-of-the-art new A6M "Zero" fighter, Maj. Louie led six I-15bis to join a formation 19 I-15bis and nine I-16s commanded by Major Cheng Hsiao-yu, Captain Yang Meng-ging and Captain Zhang Hong; they were engaged in a 1/2-hour long dogfight with 13 Zero fighters led by Lieutenant Saburo Shindo of the 12th Kokutai on an escort mission for 27 G3M "Nell" medium-heavy bombers on a raid against Chongqing. In the ensuing melee, Maj. Louie was seriously wounded, but managed to safely land his bullet-riddled I-15bis back in base, while Lt. Gao Youxin claimed a "Zero shot down", but in fact all Zeroes safely returned to base, with four damaged.Cheung, 2015, pp. 74-75. Fighting for his life, Lt. Gao Youxin shot A6M Zeroes of the tails of three Chinese fighters... he was able to close-in to 160 ft and score hits as the Zero-sen chased another I-15bis... Gao was probably responsible for at least one of the three or so damaged Zeroes in this aerial combat action... In the fall of 1942, Major Louie was sent to the United States and entered Staff and Command College. In 1945 he was sent to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

in British India as an instructor to Allied pilots. After the Japanese surrender, he went to Japan as a member of China's Military Commission in Japan. In the 1950s and 1960s, General Louie served as Chief Liaison Officer to the U.S. Garrison Command in Taiwan, Chief of Air Intelligence, and Chief of Operations, CG of the Combat Command, and Deputy C-in-C of the Chinese Air Force. In 1967 he became Deputy Chief of General Staff in the Ministry of National Defence. He was promoted from lieutenant general to general (2nd grade) in 1970.

Business career

He retired from the military in 1974, and became CEO and then chairman of the board of

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (inclu ...

until 1978.

Personal life

His first wife,

, was killed in a flying accident at

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, on November 23, 1944, while ferrying a P-63 from Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1946 he wed Pearl Lowe 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 ...

's Holy Trinity Cathedral. They had two daughters and a son together: Eleanor Louie Piatt, Katherine Louie and Clifford Louie.

References

Bibliography * Cheung, Raymond. ''OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 126: Aces of the Republic of China Air Force''. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015. .
Sino-Japanese Air War 1937-45, Chinese Aces, General 'Clifford' 'Long Legged' Louie Yim-Qun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Louie, Yim-qun Military personnel of the Republic of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese World War II pilots Chinese aviators 1914 births 1999 deaths Republic of China Air Force personnel American aviators of Chinese descent

Military career

Business career

Personal life

See also

References