Letter in the WSJ today claims to shed light on the mystery of the gold the Generalissimo smuggled out of China as he prepared to retreat to Taiwan. (HUGE tip of the hat to Michael Turton at View from Taiwan.)
Regarding Melanie Kirkpatrick’s review of “The Last Empress” by Hannah Pakula (“China’s Mystery Lady,” Bookshelf, Nov. 4): When Chiang Kai-shek decamped to Taiwan in 1949, he took the gold with him. Trans Ocean Airlines picked up the gold in Taiwan and transported it to Oakland Airport, home base, where it was transloaded to a Slick Airways C-46 to be delivered to Chase National Bank in New York. The plane was grossed out with a payload of seven tons of gold.
I was the pilot of this flight and have often wondered who ended up with the gold.
William P. Willoughby
Retired Captain, Slick Airways
Palo Alto, Calif.
The mystery continues.