WAM History
Background History of WAM
Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai (KPGiS) founded WKAS/AC one year after the March 1, 1919 Korean Independence Movement that spread from Seoul to all over Korean peninsula through the whole year against Japanese colonial occupation by force on August 19, 1910. Dosan An Chang-ho (1878~1938) came to the U.S. with his wife to study in 1902 and became one of early leaders of Korean American immigrants. He was center of Korean independence activities in America, China and Korea organizing Korean National Association (KNA,1909~1988) and Hung Sa Dahn (Young Korean Academy; YKA, 1913~) as one of pillars of KPGiS with various cabinet positions including acting prime minister. President Kim Koo (1876~1949) and An Chang-ho were pioneers in aviation history of Korea. KPGiS appointed Colonel Roh Paik-lin (1875~1926), later General of KPGiS, as Defense Minister in September 1919 while he was in exile since 1916 in Hawaii. Roh graduated from Japanese Military Academy with honor in 1899 and served various positions in Korean Army from instructor to commander of the Korean Army Training Academy as Colonel in 1909. He joined General Park Yong-man who founded the Youth Military at Hasting, Nebraska and Military Training Corps in Hawaii.
Roh’s new position caused him to visit leaders and organizations of Koreans all over America starting October 1920 to discuss ways to prepare for independence fight. He met Lim-dae Kwak (1885~1971) and other independent activists in Chicago and heard about new trend in pilot training for military purpose and that several Koreans were attending Redwood Aviation School in California under instructor Frank Bryant and that a rice farmer in Willows were paying tuition for some of them. Kwak was one of the first members of YKA in San Francisco and was invited to serve as General Affairs Manager of KNA at that time. Kwak and a dozen of Korean Independent activists agreed to travel together to San Francisco with Roh to meet six students in the Redwood Aviation School. The Aviation Section of the U.S. Signal Corps Bryant sent a letter of appreciation in 1917, since they found that he was the most prolific flying instructor who produced more than 100 pilots before WWI. It was time when the Signal Corps opened the Pilot Training School for the WWI. He was the forefather of civilian and military pilot instructors in the U.S. Later he was hired as pilot instructor of WKAS/AC.
Kim Chong-lim (1886 ~ 1973) was one of the first-generation Korean immigrants and Korean Independence activist who moved into California in 1908. As a farmer, so successful to be called as “Rice King” with 3,300-acre rice field owned by a landlord, provided $20,000 to start the school including purchase of 3 Standard J-1 biplanes, WWI basic trainer, and $3,000 monthly operational expenses about 10 months. It is about $10 million in current value. The WKAS/AC trained more than 30 pilots, who had dreams of bringing freedom to Korea from Japanese invasion, until it was officially closed in 1921.
The Willows Aviation school/ Air corps was proven to be the precursor or root of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force. The ROK Air Force is the 10th strongest Air Forces in the World followed by the 11th ranked Russian Air Force according to We Are The Mighty website published in 2017.
The WKAS/AC was fairly well documented by Korean National Association (KNA) (1909.2.1 ~ 1959.3), Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai (1919.4.11~1948..15) (KPGiS) and their newspapers and newsletter reported about the school. Willows Daily Journal had very detail articles about the school between 1920.2.19 and 1921.6.1.
The Colusi County Historical Society (CCHS) played the key role to make the Willows Korean Aviation school/Air corps known to the world by publishing an article by Ken Klein, Head, East Asian Library, University of Southern (USC EAL) in Wagon Wheels, 1989 Fall Edition, Vol XXXIX, No. 2. Until then the history of the school was forgotten to the scholars of Modern History. The photograph above was one of the collections of Korean Heritage Library (Curator, Joy Kim), USC EAL. Their inquiry about the picture to CCHS led to revealing the articles of the Willows Daily Journal. Consequently, many research articles on various journals, news media article and books were published when Korean American communities in America planned centennial celebration of the landing of the first Korean immigrants to Hawaii on January 13, 1903. In 2005, the U.S. House and Senate passed simple resolutions in support of Korean American Day.
Kim Chamberlain of Anderson, CA was the first one who located the original site of the Pilot Training School and airfield among local residents at the request of the Korean Consulate General in San Francisco, CA in September 2001. John Joseph, manager of Willows Cemetery, Glenn County (?1983~2015) has done considerable amount of research about WKAS/AC and Korean Americans lived in Willows as part of his interest in creating digital history of the Willows Cemetery.
Ki-Won Rhew of Eugene, Oregon, found the Korean Aviation Schoolhouse on August 19, 2003, since Pete Mann of Mann & Son’s Ag Aviation could identify the schoolhouse picture printed on the Wagon Wheels and told him address of the house. Rhew was serving as chair, Korean American Immigrant Centennial Celebration Committee, The Federation of Korean Associations, Northwest States at that time. He kept on driving to Los Angeles to visit Ken Klein and Joy Kim at USC on August 22, 2003 to explore their research on the Korean Immigrant History. Since then Rhew kept studying not only on the WKAS/AC but also aviation history of Willows and Glenn County. He ended up leading to found WAM on September 22, 2016 and the Board of Supervisors of the Glenn County passed the Resolution 2018-80 to Support WAM Air Museum/Memorial Park (WAM Museum/Park) to be built by setting aside 20 acres alongside Interstate-5 of the Willows-Glenn County Airport land on July 31.