Leah Hing

Leah Hing (1907–2001) was the first Chinese American woman to earn her pilot's license. Trained by Tex Rankin, an early aviation pioneer at Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington, she received her pilot's license in 1934. Later she became an instrument mechanic during World War II at a Portland air base.

Childhood Hing grew up near Salem, Oregon, and spent her school breaks working on her father's hops ranch. Her mother, Ah Sin Hing, had emigrated from Canton, China: her father, Lee Hing, was born in Oregon. Hing would live in Ladd's Addition for the rest of her life. Hing was a member of the Tanda Campfire Girls and president of the Portland Chinese Girls' Club. Her family were members of the Holt Presbyterian Church. Hing played the saxophone, and was accompanied by cymbals, drums, xylophone, trombone, and banjo. They spent a year touring the U.S. and Canada, but only played one song, "Happy Days Are Here Again." "I believe that women can learn to fly as easily as men," she told reporters, "and that eventually there will be just as many women flying as men." After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Portland became the site of a Chinese-American flying school, with the aim of training students to become fighter pilots in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Hing wanted to attend, but her father forbade it. Her plane, which was parked and unoccupied, sustained 500 dollars' worth of damage. In 1937, she crashed her plane while landing at the Boeing Field airport in Washington. The plane was severely damaged, and Hing and her passenger received minor injuries. She also enlisted in the West Coast Civil Air Patrol to fly reconnaissance missions. After the internment of Japanese Americans, Hing and many other Chinese-Americans began wearing buttons identifying them as Chinese. Hing recalled that "we were very proud, and we didn't want to get mixed up with the Japanese." when the chapter was revived in 1941. She served as secretary-treasurer

Aero Club Hing and Lang found jobs at the Aero Club of Oregon. In 1932, she and Lang assisted with a reception for a medical missionary traveling to China.

Personal life Hing's sister, Lily, died on March 10, 1933. Her father died in 1956, at the age of 85. She herself turned down several marriage proposals, saying she "liked her independence." Her story was featured in the Multnomah County Library's 2012 exhibit "Flying Tigers: Chinese American Aviators in Oregon, 1918-1945" and the Oregon Historical Society's 2016 exhibit, "Beyond the Gate". Hing's first plane is displayed in the Pearson Air Museum.