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[[File:Henry Hope Wong with bow tie.jpg|thumb|Henry Hope Wong after graduating flight school, 1917]]
Henry Hope Wong was an early [[Chinese Americans|Chinese-American]] [[Aircraft pilot|aviator]] from [[Portland, Oregon]]. At the age of 19, he designed, built and flew his own plane.
Wong was born in [[Portland, Oregon]] in 1900. He grew up at 246 Jefferson<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and First Street.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> His father, Wong Fook On,<ref name=":2">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> was a Chinese immigrant<ref name=":3">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> who used the name William Hope in dealings with white Americans.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> In later documents, Wong Fook On was often referred to as William Hope Wong.<ref name=":3" /> Wong Fook On and his wife, Chun Yow, had five other sons and one daughter.<ref name=":2" /> The family were members of the [[Holt Presbyterian Church]].<ref name=":3" /> Henry Hope Wong attended the Couch Grammar School<ref name=":0" />, and began working "even earlier than the law would allow a Caucasian to labor for pay."<ref name=":1" />
Wong was interested in planes from a young age, and began saving his wages towards a career in aviation.<ref name=":1" /> He "made a continuous study of aeroplanes; read innumerable books, built models and made drawings."<ref name=":0" /> Wong planned to study at the American School of Aviation in [[Chicago]], but his father believed flying was too dangerous.<ref name=":0" /> After Wong sent his design for an airplane model to the school, they wrote to his parents, urging the Wongs to let their son attend.<ref name=":0" /> Wong's father still refused to pay the cost, so Wong's uncle, Wong Tee, paid instead.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Hope Wong family portrait.jpg|thumb|279x279px|Hope Wong family portrait, 1913]]
Soon after Wong enrolled in the American School of Aviation, the instructor was injured, and Wong's tuition was refunded.<ref name=":0" /> He remained in [[Chicago]] for two months, working in the E.B. Health Plane Company's factory.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
At the age of sixteen<ref name=":5">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>, Wong enrolled in the Beam School of Aviation in [[Celilo Village, Oregon|Celilo, Oregon]]. He made his first flight after less than two months of school, reaching an altitude of 5,827 feet.<ref name=":4" /> In between flights, he studied the theory of aviation and learned to assemble airplane parts.<ref name=":4" /> On one flight, Wong "reached an altitude of 7,000 feet."<ref name=":6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> He claimed to have had only one accident in training, when a ground wire broke as he was preparing to take off and caused the plane to flip over.<ref name=":6" /> Wong received a scar under his right eye, but did not seem to be seriously injured.<ref name=":6" /> At age 17, he graduated with high honors<ref name=":6" /> and was awarded a diploma "as a regular aviator."<ref name=":6" /> He shared his thoughts on aviation with [[The Oregon Journal|The Oregon Daily Journal]]:<ref name=":6" /><blockquote>"Yes, it's lonesome up there. Seems that there is nothing in the world but me and the plane. The earth looks like a checkerboard with its farms, woods, and cities. What if something were to go wrong? Well, I'd just go wrong too, I guess. You can't do anything in a case of that kind and have got to take the consequences. But there is no reason for anything going wrong with the present perfection of airplanes. All you've got to do is be careful. There is a great future for aviation and I'm glad something told me while I am young and can take full advantage of it."</blockquote>After graduating, Wong applied to the United States Signal Corps, but was rejected because he was under eighteen.<ref name=":4" /> He began planning to build his own airplane "so that he may keep in training and be in readiness to report for duty in case his services are needed before he attains the proper age for military service."<ref name=":4" /> Wong's early estimate of the cost was $2500<ref name=":0" /> (roughly $49000 today).<ref> Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis|website=www.minneapolisfed.org|access-date=2019-01-02}}</ref> He returned to Portland in the fall of 1917 and began building the plane in his parents' house.<ref name=":1" />
Wong named his plane the H.W.<ref name=":5" /> It was a "tractor biplane", with two sets of wings, a 90-horsepower engine, and two passenger seats.<ref name=":4" /> The plane was 27 feet long and 12 feet high, with wings 40 feet across.<ref name=":1" /> The Oregon Daily Journal reported that "the wood is dressed and polished up as handsomely as if done by an expert."<ref name=":1" /> Wong did much of the building in a shop on 290 South 3rd Street<ref name=":5" />, finishing in 1919.<ref name=":1" /> Wong remarked on his difficulties building the H.W.:<ref name=":1" /><blockquote>"I have been two years building my biplane, because I would run short of money and had to go to work and earn more. If at the beginning I had had the necessary means I could have accomplished my object in six months. But I am near the end of my task now. I expect to be flying by the middle of July."</blockquote>After finishing work on the H.W., Wong showed the plane in "an automobile salesroom on Broadway and Burnside Streets".<ref name=":1" /> In July 1919, he began testing the plane in the area of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] called Mock's Bottom.<ref name=":5" /> While trying to take off on one of his flights, Wong collided with a tree stump and broke his propeller.<ref name=":5" /> A week later, on 22 July 1919, Wong was flying the H.W. when it began to rock from side to side. 50-100 feet above the ground, the plane went into a sudden nosedive. The H.W. crashed into the ground nose-first, breaking the propeller and tail, splintering the body, and trapping Wong under the wreckage.<ref name=":5" /> Spectators pulled Wong out and took him to the [[Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center|Good Samaritan Hospital]].<ref name=":5" /> His worst injury appeared to be a sprained back.<ref name=":5" /> After this point in the record, it is not clear what happened to Wong.
W.R. Cheadle, who worked with Wong on the H.W., blamed the crash on the roughness of the ground at Mock's Bottom:<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref><blockquote>"Because of this, he said, Wong was obliged to rise before he had attained enough headway on the ground, climbed at a 45-degree angle and found he had insufficient power to keep going on such an abrupt ascent. The machine struck directly on its running gear, said Cheadle, bending the axle and causing the fusilage to break in two when the momentum doubled over the plane's tail."</blockquote>
== See Also ==
* [[Hazel Ying Lee]]
* [[Leah Hing]]
* [[Arthur Chin]]
== References ==
[[Category: American people of Chinese descent]]
<references />
[[Category:Aviators from Oregon]]
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
Henry Hope Wong was an early [[Chinese Americans|Chinese-American]] [[Aircraft pilot|aviator]] from [[Portland, Oregon]]. At the age of 19, he designed, built and flew his own plane.
Wong was born in [[Portland, Oregon]] in 1900. He grew up at 246 Jefferson<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and First Street.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> His father, Wong Fook On,<ref name=":2">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> was a Chinese immigrant<ref name=":3">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> who used the name William Hope in dealings with white Americans.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> In later documents, Wong Fook On was often referred to as William Hope Wong.<ref name=":3" /> Wong Fook On and his wife, Chun Yow, had five other sons and one daughter.<ref name=":2" /> The family were members of the [[Holt Presbyterian Church]].<ref name=":3" /> Henry Hope Wong attended the Couch Grammar School<ref name=":0" />, and began working "even earlier than the law would allow a Caucasian to labor for pay."<ref name=":1" />
Wong was interested in planes from a young age, and began saving his wages towards a career in aviation.<ref name=":1" /> He "made a continuous study of aeroplanes; read innumerable books, built models and made drawings."<ref name=":0" /> Wong planned to study at the American School of Aviation in [[Chicago]], but his father believed flying was too dangerous.<ref name=":0" /> After Wong sent his design for an airplane model to the school, they wrote to his parents, urging the Wongs to let their son attend.<ref name=":0" /> Wong's father still refused to pay the cost, so Wong's uncle, Wong Tee, paid instead.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Hope Wong family portrait.jpg|thumb|279x279px|Hope Wong family portrait, 1913]]
Soon after Wong enrolled in the American School of Aviation, the instructor was injured, and Wong's tuition was refunded.<ref name=":0" /> He remained in [[Chicago]] for two months, working in the E.B. Health Plane Company's factory.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>
At the age of sixteen<ref name=":5">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>, Wong enrolled in the Beam School of Aviation in [[Celilo Village, Oregon|Celilo, Oregon]]. He made his first flight after less than two months of school, reaching an altitude of 5,827 feet.<ref name=":4" /> In between flights, he studied the theory of aviation and learned to assemble airplane parts.<ref name=":4" /> On one flight, Wong "reached an altitude of 7,000 feet."<ref name=":6">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> He claimed to have had only one accident in training, when a ground wire broke as he was preparing to take off and caused the plane to flip over.<ref name=":6" /> Wong received a scar under his right eye, but did not seem to be seriously injured.<ref name=":6" /> At age 17, he graduated with high honors<ref name=":6" /> and was awarded a diploma "as a regular aviator."<ref name=":6" /> He shared his thoughts on aviation with [[The Oregon Journal|The Oregon Daily Journal]]:<ref name=":6" /><blockquote>"Yes, it's lonesome up there. Seems that there is nothing in the world but me and the plane. The earth looks like a checkerboard with its farms, woods, and cities. What if something were to go wrong? Well, I'd just go wrong too, I guess. You can't do anything in a case of that kind and have got to take the consequences. But there is no reason for anything going wrong with the present perfection of airplanes. All you've got to do is be careful. There is a great future for aviation and I'm glad something told me while I am young and can take full advantage of it."</blockquote>After graduating, Wong applied to the United States Signal Corps, but was rejected because he was under eighteen.<ref name=":4" /> He began planning to build his own airplane "so that he may keep in training and be in readiness to report for duty in case his services are needed before he attains the proper age for military service."<ref name=":4" /> Wong's early estimate of the cost was $2500<ref name=":0" /> (roughly $49000 today).<ref> Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis|website=www.minneapolisfed.org|access-date=2019-01-02}}</ref> He returned to Portland in the fall of 1917 and began building the plane in his parents' house.<ref name=":1" />
Wong named his plane the H.W.<ref name=":5" /> It was a "tractor biplane", with two sets of wings, a 90-horsepower engine, and two passenger seats.<ref name=":4" /> The plane was 27 feet long and 12 feet high, with wings 40 feet across.<ref name=":1" /> The Oregon Daily Journal reported that "the wood is dressed and polished up as handsomely as if done by an expert."<ref name=":1" /> Wong did much of the building in a shop on 290 South 3rd Street<ref name=":5" />, finishing in 1919.<ref name=":1" /> Wong remarked on his difficulties building the H.W.:<ref name=":1" /><blockquote>"I have been two years building my biplane, because I would run short of money and had to go to work and earn more. If at the beginning I had had the necessary means I could have accomplished my object in six months. But I am near the end of my task now. I expect to be flying by the middle of July."</blockquote>After finishing work on the H.W., Wong showed the plane in "an automobile salesroom on Broadway and Burnside Streets".<ref name=":1" /> In July 1919, he began testing the plane in the area of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] called Mock's Bottom.<ref name=":5" /> While trying to take off on one of his flights, Wong collided with a tree stump and broke his propeller.<ref name=":5" /> A week later, on 22 July 1919, Wong was flying the H.W. when it began to rock from side to side. 50-100 feet above the ground, the plane went into a sudden nosedive. The H.W. crashed into the ground nose-first, breaking the propeller and tail, splintering the body, and trapping Wong under the wreckage.<ref name=":5" /> Spectators pulled Wong out and took him to the [[Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center|Good Samaritan Hospital]].<ref name=":5" /> His worst injury appeared to be a sprained back.<ref name=":5" /> After this point in the record, it is not clear what happened to Wong.
W.R. Cheadle, who worked with Wong on the H.W., blamed the crash on the roughness of the ground at Mock's Bottom:<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref><blockquote>"Because of this, he said, Wong was obliged to rise before he had attained enough headway on the ground, climbed at a 45-degree angle and found he had insufficient power to keep going on such an abrupt ascent. The machine struck directly on its running gear, said Cheadle, bending the axle and causing the fusilage to break in two when the momentum doubled over the plane's tail."</blockquote>
== See Also ==
* [[Hazel Ying Lee]]
* [[Leah Hing]]
* [[Arthur Chin]]
== References ==
[[Category: American people of Chinese descent]]
<references />
[[Category:Aviators from Oregon]]
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
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