Hi everyone, over the past couple of days I've been doing some research searching through US Army and Air Force enlistment records searching for a man whose name appears to have been some spelling variation of Kim Noonien Singh, a Chinese or Indian pilot who was a friend of Gene Roddenberry's from the Second World War. Roddenberry went on to name legendary Star Trek villain Khan Noonien Singh and another character, Noonien Soong, after this friend in an attempt to get in contact with him, without success.

Unfortunately, trying to find a match for this gentleman in the enlistment records in the National Archives has proven just as unsuccessful. I've searched through different variations of "Kim Noonien Singh" or "Kim Noonien Wong" and even split his middle name into two, or used the Vietnamese variant "Nguyen" or Chinese "Yuen", and it has come to nothing. It doesn't help that there seems to be little confirmation of what his name really was, or even whether he was Chinese or Indian!

I had a few questions to ask based on my search so far -

1. Would it have been possible for Chinese-Americans to become pilots in the USAAF during the Second World War? I notice that there appear to be few or no Chinese-American air cadets in the enlistment data.
2. Gene Roddenberry was serving in the 394th bomb squadron, 5th bombardment group, 13th air force. Is there any record of who the personnel were for the 394th during early to mid 1943 that's available online? Would any historian or existing historical research project have any record of any Chinese-American pilots serving with this unit, or with any of the other units serving at Guadalcanal in 1943?
3. I also notice that the RNZAF 1st and 3rd squadrons appear to have been based out of Guadalcanal in early 1943. If the gentleman's last name was "Singh" and he had Indian descent, it strikes me as far more likely that he'd be flying a British commonwealth air force. Again, does anyone have any idea where such information may be found online? It appears that the archives in New Zealand no longer provide services due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and even otherwise send their replies through post (which is in a bit of a mess now)

I would be very grateful for any assistance anyone could give me. Is there data available out there that would help me find this gentleman? Am I simply going about my research the wrong way? As esoteric a search as this may seem, this unknown gentleman, whether he be Chinese or Indian, inspired one of the greatest pop-culture villains of them all and I would be very thankful to have help bringing this little story to a close.