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SCMP

Captain Ho Weng Toh, one of the last surviving members of a group of World War II pilots dubbed the Flying Tigers, has died in Singapore on Saturday morning, aged 103.
His death was announced by his nephew John Ho in a Facebook post.
“My dearest uncle Winkie passed away this morning. He was a grand 103 years old. He lived a life many of us would dream of …
“A precious generation who had a much tougher and unpredictable life, who sacrificed so much so that my generation could live a peaceful and much easier life.

“To him, and the rest of that generation, I say thank you.”
Nicknamed “Winkie”, Ho was born in Malaysia, went to study in Hong Kong and made his name as a bomber pilot in World War II with the China-America Composite Wing (CACW), a subsidiary of the Flying Tigers.
The CACW was a joint venture between the United States Air Force and the Chinese Air Force to fight the Japanese invasion.
A B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, Captain Ho flew missions over occupied China during the war and returned a hero in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Never forgotten: Six veterans who lived through conflict remember lessons of the second world war
“I was very fortunate,” Ho told the Post in 2015 “I never met a serious accident in all those years of flying. You could say I’m almost without a scratch.
“It is quite something for a boy from Ipoh. I was just a university student in Hong Kong when the war started.”
Ho, who was born in Ipoh in 1920, returned to what was then Malaya in 1951 and flew for the now-defunct Malayan Airways, and then for Singapore Airlines, with whom he became the chief pilot for the Boeing 737 fleet in 1974.
Ho retired from flying in 1980.

In November 2019 – after being convinced to do so by former Singapore foreign minister George Yeo to write his memoirs – launched his autobiography, Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot.
In 1949, Ho married Augusta Rodrigues, who died of lung cancer in 1977.


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Malaysia’s ‘Winkie’ Ho Weng Toh, one of the last surviving Flying Tiger World War II pilots, dies at 103 in Singapore

Captain Ho Weng Toh, one of the last survivors of the World War II Flying Tigers, has died, aged 103. 

Captain Ho Weng Toh with a B-25 Mitchell bomber in Hanchung Air Base in Shaanxi, China, during World War II. Photo: Handout

Ho Weng Toh flew B-25 bombers during World War II. Photo: Ho Weng Toh

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The tombstone belongs to Job van Belzen who survived a Tokyo POW camp but died in a plane crash during his repatriation. The sketch shows a POW camp. Photo: SCMP composite/Justin Ho/AJ von Metzsch, Bericht uit Hainan (1994)

The Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong is the final resting place of 1,528 Commonwealth soldiers who died during World War II, including British, Indian, and Canadian service members from the Battle of Hong Kong and subsequent POW camps. Photo: Justin Ho

Job van Belzen survived a Tokyo POW camp but died in a plane crash during his repatriation. “Koninkrijk Der Nederlanden“ means “Kingdom of the Netherlands”. Photo: Justin Ho

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Uncle PVT Wing O. Hom.&#xA;&#xA;Credit:  Courtesy Ken Hom

One of the two photos the Hom family have of Wing On Hom, a Chinese-American soldier who died in Italy during World War II. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

Ken Hom. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

One of the two photos the Hom family have of Wing On Hom. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

American soldiers enter the Italian town of Cisterna di Latina on May 25, 1944. Photo: Getty Images

The telegram the Hom family received telling them Wing On Hom was missing in action. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

Ken Hom with his grandfather Wing Horn Hom and grandmother Yu Sau Lan. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

Ah Wei Hom was Wing On Hom’s grandfather and next of kin. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

The inventory of Wing On Hom’s effects. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

Ken Hom with his grandparents. Photo: Courtesy of Ken Hom

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Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia, addresses the media during a news conference at the Chinese embassy in Canberra on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A US warship patrols off the coast of Darwin in northern Australia after a Japanese air strike in 1942. The smoke column on the left is from an exploding Australian ship said to have been loaded with bombs. Photo: AP

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Chief Executive John Lee and high-ranking officials attend a ceremony to commemorate the defeat of the Japanese army at City Hall Memorial Garden. Photo: Handout

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Chinese seamen at a Chinese hostel in Liverpool, May 1942. Hundreds of Chinese seamen were rounded up in the city in 1945 and 1946 and deported. Photo: Getty Images

A group of Chinese seamen outside a Chinese hostel in Liverpool, May 1942. Hundreds of Chinese sailors were rounded up and deported in 1945 and 1946. Photo: Getty Images

A group of Chinese seamen outside a Chinese hostel in Liverpool, May 1942. Hundreds were rounded up and deported in 1945 and 1946. Photo: Getty Images

A group of Chinese seamen outside a Chinese hostel in Liverpool, May 1942. Hundreds of Chinese seamen were rounded up in the city in 1945 and 1946 and deported. Photo: Getty Images

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The Nook in Nelson Street, Chinatown in Liverpool. Photo: Guardian News Service/Tom Jenkins

A Chinese hostel in Liverpool. Photo: Getty Images

Bessie Braddock, Labour MP for Liverpool Exchange, tried to help the wives of deported Chinese sailors, to no avail. Photo: Wikipedia

Peter Foo, whose father was forcibly deported from Liverpool after World War II, stands by the arches at the top of Nelson Street in Liverpool’s Chinatown. Photo: Guardian News Service/Tom Jenkins

A group of Chinese seamen outside a Chinese hostel in Liverpool, May 1942. Photo: Getty Images

Boarders share a room in a hostel for Chinese people in Liverpool, May 1942. Photo: Getty Images

Perry Lee, whose father was a Chinese sailor in the second world War but was forcibly deported afterwards, stands by his grave in Everton cemetery in Liverpool. Photo: Guardian News Service/Tom Jenkins

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Malayan-born Ho was a university student in Hong Kong when he joined the fight against Japan during the second world war
A B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, Captain Ho flew missions over occupied China and became a pioneer Singapore Airlines pilot after the war


Ho was at university in Hong Kong when World War II broke out and became a B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, before eventually returning to Malaya and becoming a Singapore Airlines pilot.


Malaysia’s ‘Winkie’ Ho Weng Toh, one of the last surviving Flying Tiger World War II pilots, dies at 103 in Singapore

Malayan-born Ho was a university student in Hong Kong when he joined the fight against Japan during the second world war A B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, Captain Ho flew missions over occupied China and became a pioneer Singapore Airlines pilot after the war

Malayan-born Ho was a university student in Hong Kong when he joined the fight against Japan during the second world war

A B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, Captain Ho flew missions over occupied China and became a pioneer Singapore Airlines pilot after the war