Emil Silvan Scott
"Scotty"
Hawaii - 1937
(Photo Courtesy of Scotty's nephew, Tom Moore)
The following e-mail from Renjie Hua came on December 13, 1999.
Dear Mr. Moore Jr.,
It is a pleasure to read your letter dated 20 Nov.1999. I was a copilot during 1945-1946 in CNAC, so I didn't know your uncle. I've called Mr.Yuanbin Lu (former name Y.P. Loh) asking him for info about your uncle. He told me:
1. He knows the story of the crash accident of Emil Scott.
2. Your uncle's name was not carved on the tablet in the monument to the Air Martyrs in the Anti-Japanese War. The monument was initiated and built by our association (Beijing Aviators Association). 3300 names of the aircrews sacrificed in the Anti-Japanese War were carved on 60 tablets which was located in Nanjing (Nanking) in 1995. I believe Scotty is qualified to have a name on the tablet.
(Note: Actually, my uncle's name is on one of these tablets http://www.cnac.org/humpmonument02.htm)
Both Lu, I and other ex-CNAC fellows are not be able to keep any CNAC materials--flying jacket, uniforms, pin, badge, etc. Because all those precious memorial things have been lost during the so called Cultural Revolution during 1966-1976--a ten years disaster. Almost all the CNAC fellows in mainland of China lost or destroyed their things relating to CNAC. If you want to collect any souvenir, you'd better to collect in USA or Taiwan. I suggest you contact Mr. John "Dick" Rossi (Tel:760-728-4254), who was a pilot in CNAC from 1942-1946, Mr. Moon F. Chin (Tel:650-342-8788) who served for CNAC since 1930s and he became a chief pilot since 1940s, now living in San Francisco. Also, you can contact Fletcher Hanks who was a CNAC pilot in 1943-1945 (Tel:410-226-5494)
I'll write a notice on our newsletter to ask members of BAA (which includes all ex-CNAC fellows in China) will help you for collecting CNAC materials, and support the website of CNAC on the internet.
Following this email, I am going to post you a copy of the pictorial album of "Fifteen Years of Beijing Aviators Association", a greeting card and a brochure of Sino-American WWII Vets Reunion in China.
Best wishes for a
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Renjie Hua
President of Beijing Aviators Assn.
The following information has been provided by Scotty's nephew, Tom Moore.
Scotty's complete Great Adventure can be found HERE.
- August 11, 1941: Letter from 164 Argyle Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Decides to join the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). " - base
pay $700, plus $20 an hour over 60 . . . I’m on freight service now and
should be on passenger - $800 a month - in about three or four weeks."
- Nov 1941: Letterhead - S. E. Scott, C.N.A.C, Hong Kong.
Name Mentioned: Mr. Kurusu
- November 8, 1941: (Point of history - First CNAC flight over the Hump;
plane #47 at Liang. Emil was not on this flight.)
- Monday, November 11, 1941: Letter from Betty "Georgi" Scott, A3 Miramar
Apts., Dewey Boulevard, Manila, P.I.
Names Mentioned:
Col. Chennault
Frank Higgs
Foxy Kent
December 8, 1941 - that’s December 7, 1941 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Chuck Sharp, Pop Kessler, Maj Woods and Emil Scott while they are hiding among boulders during a Jap raid a short distance from Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong. Also, an unidentified male military or PanAm (?) person in a white hat, at Sharp's left. Manila bombed that same day. A similar picture is in "Wings Over Asia, Vol IV", but his photo is courtesy of Judy Polanich, the niece of Paul "Pop" Kessler.
- December 8, 1941 - February 1942: Betty "Georgi" Scott is interned by the Japanese at the fall of Manila at Santa Tomas (Hospital) Camp and then to Los Banos until she is released at the end of the war in 1945. Betty meets Carl and Shelley Mydans (photo journalists) while interned at Santa Tomas, in addition to the Brazee sisters and the Sams family. Betty also meets E.W. Hazzard, who knew Emil well. Until Betty’s release, she did not officially know of Emil’s death, but she had read of the accident and suspected about his death, from an English Phillipine newspaper. She now resides in San Francisco, California.
- December 10, 1941: PAN AMEICAN AIRWAYS: CNAC (EVACUATION FROM HONG KONG. 1941)
Capt. S. E. Scott, of Waco, TX (one of the 1st CNAC pilots to fly
back into Honk Kong to evacuate personnel after the Japanese attack of 8 December 1941) leans
against wall of "new quarters" at Chungking, China, the morning after the last flight to
Hong Kong, 10 December 1941." Copied from photo loaned by Ron Thomas, Dunedin, Fl; credited
to Harrison Forman. (On file in the Smithsonian #92 7044)
(This photo Courtesy of Emil's nephew, Tom Moore)
- December 15, 1941: The New York Times, this date,
identified the following eight CNAC pilots who participated in the air evacuation of
Hong Kong:
Charles L. Sharp - "Chuck"
Hugh L. Woods
Harold A. Sweet - "Hal"
William McDolald - "Billy"
Frank L. Higgs - "Higgs" or "Dude"
Robert S. Angle - "Bob"
P. W. Kessler - "Pop"
S. E. Scott - "Scotty"
(I added the nicknames)
Chicago Daily Tribune
Monday, December 15, 1941
- Feb. 9, 1942: Letter from Beth Steele (Betty Scott’s Mother) refers to Emil as "Sandy".
- March 14, 1942 (about 9:30/45 P.M.): Emil was killed in the crash of
CNAC’s last DC-2, #31, shortly after take-off about 2 km from Kunming
Airdrome on a flight to Chungking, as reported in the New York Times,
March 16, 1942. Three crew members and ten passengers died, including Emil,
Major General Lancelot Dennys, chief of the British military mission to
China, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick L. Kohler of the American military
mission, and Fenimore B. Lynch, advisor to the Central Bank of China; four
passengers survived.
- March 16, 1942: Emil was buried in the Chinese Cemetery for Military
Aviators, 8 kilometers east of Kunming on the Kweiyang road. Chaplain Paul
Frillmann performed the burial service. Claire Chennault was in attendance
along with Flying Tiger Charlie Bond. Olga S. Greenlaw also attended.
- 12 August 1949: At Georgi (Betty) Scott’s request and with General Chennault’s help, Emil is re-interred in Section D, Grave No. 147,
in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
(Punchbowl)
overlooking Honolulu, Hawaii.
(Both of the above photos Courtesy of Tom Moore)
For a complete history on Scotty, please click here.
If you would like to share any information about Emil Scott
or would like to be added to the CNAC e-mail distribution list,
please let the CNAC Web Editor, Tom Moore, know.
Thanks!
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EMIL SILVAN SCOTT (1911-1942)