Tow Hongliang (Chinese: 拖洪良) (born September 5, 1940) is a Chinese-born Taiwanese-American roller coaster designer and engineer. Tow is the co-founder of MSC Incorporated.
Biography[]
Tow was born in Wuhan. In 1958 at the age of 18, he joined the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force. In 1963, he and his friend Lü Changrui defected in their Antonov An-2 to Taiwan. Upon defecting, they were rewarded 3,000 taels (approximately 150 kg) of gold, and Tow was promoted to manager of the summer camp Xiao Tainan (now Six Flags Taiwan). In 1964, he designed a wooden roller coaster for children to ride, named Jet Coaster. It was very popular among children, and soon Tow gained interest in designing more roller coasters.
Upon retiring with a rank of Colonel in 1973, Tow emigrated to the United States and got a job designing coasters for Arrow Development. In 1979, he left Arrow and founded Massachusetts Super Coasters & Attractions, now known as MSC Incorporated.