World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseMao Yingchu (Wade-Giles: Mow Ying-chu) was born in Fenghua County, Zhejiang Province, China in 1911. He was related to Presidents Chiang Kaishek and Chiang Ching-kuo by marriage, through Mao Yingmei, whose younger sister Mao Fumei was Chiang Kaishek's first wife and Chiang Ching-kuo's mother. Mao Yingchu's father, a Mobil Oil employee, relocated the family to Shanghai, China for work reasons. In Shanghai, Mao Yingchu's brother Mao Bangchu made the appropriate contacts with the Nationalist leadership, and secured entry into the newly established Central Aviation Academy. After learning of the Japanese invasion of northeastern China in 1931, Mao Yingchu quit his studies at Jinling University (Wade-Giles: Chin-ling University; since merged into today's Nanjing University) in Nanjing, China and followed his brother's footsteps into the Central Aviation Academy. By the start of WW2 in 1937, he had risen to the position of the commanding officer of 23rd Pursuit Squadron of 4th Pursuit Group of the Chinese Air Force. He claimed his first victory over Shanghai on 15 Aug 1937, a B2M biplane carrier torpedo bomber, while flying a Hawk III biplane fighter. During the night of 26-27 Aug 1937, Japanese bombers attacked Nanjing, China; Mao Yingchu and fellow pilot Lu Jichun shared the credit for the successful night time downing of a G3M2 bomber with the aid of searchlights. On 19 Sep, over Nanjing, it was likely that Mao had shot down three Japanese D1A2 dive bombers, but he had only claimed one victory and one probable, as he was unable to observe the fate of all three victims in the confusion of aerial combat; his own aircraft was damaged in the fuel tank and the engine by pieces flying off of his third victim, but he was able to land safely. On 21 Nov 1937, he shot down one of the G3M bombers that was attacking his airfield, but was in turn wounded in the shoulder, putting him out of action until Jan 1938. Upon his return to active duty, he was made the deputy group commander of the 4th Pursuit Group. In the following month, he was made the group's commanding officer upon the death of Major Li Guitan. In May 1938, he was made the deputy commanding officer of the Combined Pursuit Group based in Liangshan County, Sichuan Province. China. In Jun 1938, he married Zheng Xiuzhen, which whom he would later have two sons and two daughters. His group was relocated to Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China in Sep 1938. He scored his final victory, shared with another pilot, over Gansu Province, China when they shot down an Italian-built BR.20 bomber flown by the Japanese Army Air Force. Later in the war, he served as an air attaché at the Chinese embassy in Washington DC, United States. In 1946, he graduated from the US Staff and Command College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, United States. He retired from Republic of China Air Force service in 1968 at the rank of lieutenant general. Between 1969 and 1981, he was a civilian official at the Civil Aviation Authority. Between 1981 and 1997, he was the Chairman of the Board of the Hawley & Hazel Chemical Company. He passed away in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China in 2000.

Mao Yingchu Timeline