Lee, Hazel Ah Ying, 1912-1944

Hazel Ying Lee (1912-1944) was the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military. Born in Portland, Oregon, Lee’s unquenchable thirst for flight began at age 19, when she first rode in a friend’s plane at an airshow. Within a year, she became one of the first Chinese American women to earn a pilot’s license, despite prevailing sexist and anti-Chinese norms. When Japan invaded China in 1933, Lee moved to China to join the Chinese Air Force but was rejected as a female pilot and forced into desk jobs there and upon her return to the States. But in 1943, Lee became one of the first women and one of two Chinese American women (alongside Maggie Gee) to join the groundbreaking Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. Lee also became one of 132 female pilots trained to “fly pursuit,” or fast, high-powered fighters. Lee died in a crash due to control tower error at 32 years old, less than a month before the end of the WASP program.