Moon Fun Chin (; April 13, 1913 – May 9, 2023) was a Chinese-American aviator, businessman and supercentenarian. A native of

Taishan, Guangdong Taishan (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized in Cantonese as Toishan or Toisan, in local dialect as Hoisan, and formerly known as Xinning or Sunning (), is a county-level city in the southwest of Guangd ...

, he immigrated to the United States, and obtained a pilot's license there. In 1933, he returned to China for aviation development. Chin was the deputy director of the aviation team of the

China National Aviation Corporation The China National Aviation Corporation () was a Chinese airline which was nationalized after the Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949, and merged into the People's Aviation Company of China () in 1952. It was a major airline under the ...

, and later the director and deputy manager of the aviation team of Central Air Transport. Chin piloted the plane to transport

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his raid on Japan during World War II, known as the Doolittle Raid in his honor. He ma ...

after the American air raid on Tokyo in 1942, and also the executive plane to transport Chiang Kai-shek,

Sun Fo Sun Fo (; 21 October 1891 – 13 September 1973), courtesy name Zhesheng (), was a Chinese politician and high-ranking official in the government of the Republic of China. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, ...

Dai Li Dai Li (; 28 May 189717 March 1946), courtesy name Yunong, was a Chinese lieutenant general and spymaster. Dai was born in Jiangshan, Zhejiang and later studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang Kai-shek served as Chief Commandant, ...

, T. V. Soong,

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (, 27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China. The eldest and only biological son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China and ended ...

and other senior officials. He had also flown for the heavy-airlift supply line operation between China, Burma and India, known as ''

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allies of World War II, Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from British Raj, India to Republic of China (1912- ...

''. In 1951, together with Dai Anguo, Cai Kefei and others, he co-founded

TransAsia Airways TransAsia Airways (TNA, until January 1992 known by its Chinese-translated name Foshing Airlines;For historical pictures with "Foshing Airlines" on it, see: ) was a Taiwanese airline based in Neihu District in Taipei. Though the company starte ...

in Taiwan. In 1983, China National Industrial Group bought 70% of the shares of TransAsia Airways, and Chin returned to the United States, this time moving to San Francisco, California. He resided in

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlinga ...

. Chin died on May 9, 2023, at the age of 110 years, 26 days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chin, Moon Fun 1913 births 2023 deaths People from Taishan, Guangdong Taiwanese aviators American aviators Chinese emigrants to the United States American supercentenarians Taiwanese supercentenarians Men supercentenarians People of the Chinese Civil War Military personnel of the Republic of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star Taiwanese people from Guangdong