Hazel Ying Lee
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), World War II

Hazel Ying Lee
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), World War II

Hazel Ying Lee, born in Portland, Oregon, earned her pilot’s license at the age of 19. She went to China in 1933 to become a pilot for the Chinese Air Force but was rejected because of her sex. Returning to the United States, Lee later joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943, becoming the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military. During World War II, the military largely used the WASP to transport aircraft from manufacturers and bases to needed locations around the United States. Whilst delivering a P-63 fighter plane from Niagara Falls, New York, to Great Falls, Montana, in November 1944, Lee and another WASP received identical instructions from the air tower controller on approach, resulting in a mid-air collision. Hazel Ying Lee was one of the thirty-eight WASP who died in the line of duty during World War II. Attributed to her is the following quote, “I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity.”