Lee, Hazel Ah Ying, 1912-1944

Variant names

Hide Profile

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.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Woods, Inez Woodward, 1917-. Inez Woodward Woods personal and family papers, 1970s-2000. Texas Woman's University Library, Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library
referencedIn Pfister, Betty Haas. Betty Haas Pfister photograph album, 1943-1944. Texas Woman's University Library, Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library
referencedIn Dussaq, Katherine Applegate Keeler. Katherine Applegate Keeler Dussaq scrapbooks (2), 1937-1938. Texas Woman's University Library, Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library
referencedIn Hazel Ying Lee Collection. Texas Woman's University Library, Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Dussaq, Katherine Applegate Keeler. person
associatedWith Lee, Hazel Ying person
associatedWith Lee, Hazel Ying, 1913-1944. person
associatedWith Pfister, Betty Haas. person
associatedWith Tong, Frances M. person
associatedWith Women Airforce Service Pilots corporateBody
associatedWith Woods, Inez Woodward, 1917- person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Great Falls MT US
Portland OR US
Subject
Chinese American women
Women air pilots
Women in aeronautics
World War, 1939-1945
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1912-08-24

Death 1944-11-25

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tj9d4z

Ark ID: w6tj9d4z

SNAC ID: 87611364