The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force in 1941-1942, dubbed Flying Tigers , consisted of a pilot from the United States Army Air Force The Corps (USAAC), the Navy (USN), and the Marine Corps (USMC), were recruited under the president's authority and ordered by Claire Lee Chennault. The shark's nose art from the Flying Tiger remains one of the most recognizable images of any fighter or combat unit of World War II.
This group consists of three squadrons of about 30 aircraft respectively. It was trained in Burma prior to America's entry into World War II with the mission of defending China against the Japanese forces. The volunteer group is officially a member of the Chinese Air Force. Members of the group have contracts with salaries ranging from $ 250 per month for a mechanic up to $ 750 for a squadron commander, roughly three times what they have earned in US troops. Despite receiving several civilian volunteers for his headquarters and crew, AVG recruited most of his staff from the US military.
The group first saw the battle on December 20, 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor (local time). This shows an innovative tactical victory when the news in the US is filled with little more than the story of defeat at the hands of Japanese troops, and achieves a notable success during the lowest period of war for US and Allied Forces to give hope to America that it might eventually defeat Japan. The AVG pilots get official credit, and receive combat bonuses, for destroying 296 enemy planes, while losing just 14 pilots in combat. The AVG combat records are still there and the researchers have found them credible. On 4 July 1942 AVG was disbanded. It was replaced by the 23rd United States Air Force Combat Group, which was later absorbed into the US Fourteenth Air Force with General Chennault as commander. FG 23 continues to achieve similar combat success, while retaining the nose art in the remaining P-40s.
But this is probably not the first group of American volunteer fighter pilots in China. See Gladiator Gladiator # China.
Video Flying Tigers
Origin
The American Volunteer Group is largely the creation of Claire L. Chennault, a retired US Air Force official who has worked in China since August 1937, first as a military aviation adviser to the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in the early Sino-Japanese months. War, then as director of the Chinese Air Force flight school headquartered in Kunming. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union supplied fighter and bomber squadrons to China, but these units were largely withdrawn in the summer of 1940. Chiang then requested US combat aircraft and pilots, sending Chennault to Washington as an adviser to China's ambassador and Chiang's brother in - Orders, TV Soong.
Because the US is not at war, the "Special Air Unit" can not be publicly regulated, but the request was approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself. The resulting clandestine operations were organized largely by Lauchlin Currie, a young economist at the White House, and by Roosevelt who was familiar with Thomas G. Corcoran. (Currie's assistant is John King Fairbank, who later became the leading Asian scholar in America.) Financing is handled by China Defense Supplies - primarily by Tommy Corcoran - with money borrowed by the US government. The purchase was then made by China under the terms of "Cash and Carry" of the Neutrality Act of 1939. Earlier in the 1930s, a number of American pilots including Annapolis graduate Frank Tinker had flown battles during the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. Members are organized into the Yankee Squadron.
Chennault spent the winter of 1940-1941 in Washington, overseeing the purchase of 100 Curtiss P-40 fighters and recruiting 100 pilots and about 200 ground crew and administrative personnel who will be the first AVGs. He also laid the groundwork for the group of follow-up bombers and the second group of fighters, although this would be canceled after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The Original US Volunteer Group
Of the pilots, 60 came from the Navy and Marine Corps and 40 from the Army Air Corps. (One of the army pilots was denied a passport because he previously flew as a mercenary in Spain, so only 99 actually sailed to Asia Ten military flight instructors were employed more as check pilots for Chinese cadets, and some of them would eventually join AVG combat squadron.) Volunteers were released from military service, to be hired "training and instruction" by private military contractors, Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO), who paid them $ 600 per month for officers, $ 675 per month for aviation leaders , $ 750 for a squadron leader (no pilots recruited at this level), and about $ 250 for a skilled land crew.
Some pilots also verbally promised a $ 500 reward for every enemy plane shot down, but nobody knows if it really happened until they returned home and found the funds stored in their bank.
Although sometimes regarded as a mercenary unit, AVG is closely tied to the US military. Much of the history of the Flying Tiger says that on April 15, 1941, President Roosevelt signed a "secret executive order" authorizing soldiers on active duty to resign in order to join AVG. However, the Flying Tigers historian Daniel Ford can not find any evidence that such an order ever existed, and he argued that "winks and nods" were more of the president's style. However, AVG is regulated and partly directed out of the White House, and in the spring of 1942 has been effectively brought into the US Army's command chain.
During the summer and fall of 1941, some 300 people carrying civilian passports boarded a ship designated for Burma. They were originally based at the UK airfield in Toungoo for training while their aircraft were assembled and tests flown by CAMCO personnel at Mingaladon Airport outside Rangoon. Chennault established the necessary school buildings because many pilots "lied about their flying experience, claiming pursuit experience when they just flew bombers and sometimes much stronger aircraft." They call Chennault the "Old Man" because of his much older age and rugged exterior obtained from years of flying with an open cockpit chase aircraft in the Army Air Corps. Most believe that he has flown as a fighter pilot in China, although the story that he is ace may be apocryphal combat.
Of the original 300 members of CAMCO personnel, 9 Chinese-Americans are recruited from the American Chinatown. All 9 are trained at Allison Engineworks in Indianapolis, Indiana: they are all P-40 mechanics. Upon arrival in Kunming, 2 other Chinese-Americans were hired, a Ford Motor truck specialist and a doctor. The number of Chinese-American natives is 11. Before July 4, 1942, 3 of the P-40 mechanics resigned. The official AVG name list lists the original 8.
AVG was created by the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek executive order. He does not speak English, however, and Chennault has never learned to speak Mandarin. As a result, all communication between the two men was channeled through Soong Mei-ling, "Madame Chiang" because he was known by the Americans, and he was appointed as the group's "honorary commander".
Chennault fighter doctrine
Chennault preached a very different approach to air combat based on his research on Japanese tactics and equipment, his observations of tactics employed by Soviet pilots in China, and his assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of his own aircraft and pilots. The true average power of AVG is never more than 62 pilots and combat fighters. Chennault faced a serious obstacle because many inexperienced AVG pilots and some stopped at the first opportunity. However, he makes the virtue of this loss, removing unsuitable pilots into the work of the staff and always ensuring that he has one or two squadrons in reserve. (AVG has no rank, so there is no division between officers and enlisted soldiers.)
Chennault and Flying Tigers benefit from a state warning network, called "the best ever airborne warning system ever":
Starting from the area of ​​Free China, in hundreds of small villages, in remote outposts, in hills and caves, stretching from near Canton through all the Free China to the capital of Chungking and to Lanchow, far to the northwest, is a labyrinth of alarm stations equipped with radios and telephones that give instant warnings about the approach of Japanese aircraft.
When the Japanese plane was attacked, Chennault's doctrine called for pilots to take enemy aircraft within the team from altitude gains, since their plane did not maneuver or as much as the Japanese fighter would confront. He forbade his pilot from entering the battle with the nimble Japanese warriors, telling them to carry out diving or dive attacks and dive to prepare another attack. This "dive-and-zoom" technique goes against what people in US service are learning and what Air Force pilots (Burma) do in Burma; it has been successfully used, however, by a Soviet unit serving with the Chinese Air Force.
Curtiss P-40
AVG fighter is derived from the Curtiss production line that produces the Tomahawk IIB model for the Royal Air Force in North Africa. Tomahawk IIB is similar to the previous US Army P-40B model, and there is some evidence that Curtiss actually uses the remaining components of the model in building fighter aircraft destined for China. The fighters were bought without "government-equipped equipment" such as reflector guns, radio and wing guns; the lack of these items led to ongoing difficulties for AVG in Burma and China.
The 100 P-40 aircraft were confined and shipped to Burma on third country carrier ships during the spring of 1941. In Rangoon, they were demoted, assembled and test flown by Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) personnel before being sent to the AVG training unit in Toungoo. One crate was dropped into the water and the wing assembly was damaged by salt water immersion, so the CAMCO was only able to send 99 Tomahawks before the war broke out. (Many of them were destroyed in training accidents.) The 100th ship was transported by truck to the CAMCO plant in Loiwing, China, and then made entirely with parts of the damaged aircraft. Lack of equipment with spare parts that are virtually impossible to obtain in Burma along with the slow introduction of replacement combat aircraft is a continuous barrier even though AVG does indeed receive 50 replacement P-40E fighters from USAAF stocks towards the end of its combat tour.
AVG fighter aircraft painted with a large shark face on the front of the plane. This was done after the pilot saw the P-40 photo of No. 112 RAF Squadron in North Africa, which in turn has adopted a shark's face from a German pilot from Luftwaffe's ZG 76 heavy fighter wing, flying fighter Messerschmitt Bf 110 in Crete. (AVG's noses are variously credited to Charles Bond and Erik Shilling.) Around the same time, AVG was nicknamed "The Flying Tigers" by Washington's support group, called China Defense Supplies. Good P-40 qualities include pilot armor, self-sealing fuel tank, sturdy construction, heavy weaponry, and higher dive speeds than most Japanese aircraft - qualities that can be used for profit in accordance with Chennault combat tactics. Chennault creates an early warning network of complainants that will give the fighters time to take off and climb to higher heights where this tactic can be implemented.
Maps Flying Tigers
Combat history
Rangoon Port in Burma and Burma Road leading from there to China is very important. East China is under Japanese occupation, so all military supplies to China arrive via the Burmese route. In November 1941, when the pilots were trained and most of the P-40 arrived in Asia, the Flying Tiger was divided into three squadrons: First Squadron ("Adam & Eves"); 2nd Squadron ("Panda Bears") and 3rd Squadron ("Hell's Angels"). They are assigned to the end of Burma Road to protect this important communication channel. Two squadrons are based in Kunming in China, and the third is at Mingaladon Airport near Rangoon. When the United States officially entered the war, AVG had 82 pilots and 79 aircraft, though not all were ready for combat. Tiger Erik Shilling, part of the third squadron commented: "This was the beginning of the greatest adventure I had ever hoped to experience, not until years later I realized the magnitude and significance of this first step, to be a lifelong adventure in the mystical Far East."
AVG's first combat mission was on December 20, 1941, when the aircraft of the 1st and 2nd squadrons intercepted 10 Kawasaki Ki-48 fighters "Lily" which were not stifled on 21 Hik? Tai that attacked Kunming. The bombers dispose of their cargo before reaching Kunming. Three of the Japanese bombers were shot down near Kunming and the fourth was badly damaged so it fell before returning to the airport in Hanoi. Later, Chinese intelligence intercepted Japanese communications showing that only 1 in 10 of the bomber aircraft finally returned to the base. Furthermore, Japan stopped their raids in Kunming while AVG was headquartered there. One P-40 landed; it was saved for the part. This mission was one of the earliest American air wars in the Pacific War.
Rangoon Defense
The first squadron had flown to Kunming to defend the Burma Street terminal and see some combat action on December 20, 1941 while defending Rangoon from Japanese bombers, knocking down four of them and disrupting their attack on Burma Road.
Currently, the focus of Japan's offensive efforts in the AVG coverage area is southern Myanmar. The 3rd Squadron - 18 powerful aircraft - defends Rangoon from 23-25 ​​December. On December 23, heavy bomber Mitsubishi S-21 "Sally" on 60, 62, and 98 Sentai , along with a single-engined Mitsubishi Ki-30 attack bomber "Ann" on 31 Sentai , likened against Rangoon. They were escorted by Nakajima Ki-27's 77th "Nate" warrior Sentai . The Japanese Imperial Air Force Formation (JAAF) was ambushed by AVG and RAF Brewster Buffalos from 67 squadrons. Eight Ki-21s were shot down due to the loss of three AVG P-40s. The 60th Sentai was hit hard - it lost five of the 15 bombers that had been sent. However, Rangoon and Mingaladon airfields were successfully bombed, with the city suffering more than 1,000 people dead. Two buffalo and two P-40s were destroyed on the ground, and one P-40 crashed while trying to land on a bomb-damaged runway.
On December 25th, JAAF came back, reinforced by Ki-21 from 12 Sentai and Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa s (Oscar) 64 Sentai (Colonel Tateo Kat? Fly Squadron). A total of 63 bombers who escorted 25 fighter aircraft carried out. It was intercepted by 14 P-40s from the 3rd Squadron AVG and 15 Buffalo from Squadron 67. In the two meetings, 35 Japanese bombers and fighter planes were shot down. Allies lost two pilots and five P-40s. The airfield of Mingaladon was once again broken, and eight Buffalo were destroyed on the ground.
After his defeat in the 23-25 ​​battle of December, the 3rd Squadron was relieved by the 2nd Squadron of "Panda Bears", which carried out a series of attacks on the JAAF air base in Thailand. Japan has moved the plane to Malaya to complete Singapore, and the remaining aircraft in the area (77, 31 and 62 Sentai ) launched a combat sweep and counterattack at the Allied airfield at Mingaladon.
On January 12, Japan launched their Burma Campaign. Significantly outnumbered, AVG is gradually reduced through attrition, but often demands disproportionate victims from their attackers. On January 24, six Ki-21s of 14 Sentai guarded by Ki-27 attacked Mingaladon. All Ki-21s were shot down by AVG and RAF defenders. On January 28, a sweep of 37 Ki-27 fighters was involved by 16 AVG P-40s and two RAF fighters. Three "Nates" were shot down due to the loss of two P-40s. The next day, another 20 Ki-27 sweep of 70 Sentai has been met by 10 Allied fighters (eight P-40s and two Hawker Hurricanes). Four were shot down for the loss of Allied aircraft.
Despite the small victory and Chennault's reinforcement of "Panda Bears" with pilots from "Adam and Eves", in mid-February, only 10 P-40s still operate at Mingaladon. The Commonwealth troops retreated before the Japanese attack, and AVG was pressed into the role of ground attack to support them. One of the unfortunate outcomes of this mission was the prolonged air strike on the suspicious Japanese column on February 21 which turned out to be made up of the Commonwealth forces. More than 100 Allied souls are lost in this friendly fire incident. On February 27, after hearing that the RAF retreated and withdrew its radar equipment, AVG retreated to a base in northern Burma.
On January 24th, the Flying Tiger has destroyed 73 Japanese aircraft while losing only five of its own - a remarkable performance, as AVG lost out and faced a trained and experienced Japanese pilot. The main disadvantage of JAAF fighter pilots in this period was their almost-worn type main fighters in the theater, Ki-27. Although more maneuverable than the P-40, the weaponry and performance are lower. Built and lightly armed, it can not withstand a frontal attack or can not go out-dive Allied fighters like the P-40; if attempted, it is often separated in the air. In fact, the cruising speed is less than that of a Ki-21 bomber intended to be escorted.
Backtrack to China
After Rangoon disappeared into Japan in late February, AVG was transferred to Magwe, a small English airfield over 300 miles north of Rangoon. Chennault began to move elements from the 3rd Squadron that has now been re-formed into Magwe as the 1st and 2nd squadron booster. Aircraft damage is so high that at this point individual squadron differences are meaningless, and all three squadrons have elements based there, along with a number of RAF planes. In total, the Allies have 38 aircraft, including eight P-40s and 15 Hawker Hurricanes. Opposing them are 271 Japanese aircraft, including 115 fighter aircraft. Although AVG and RAF scored some success against JAAF, Magwe continued to be bombed, including a very heavy on March 21 attack by 151 bombers and fighters. On March 23 with only four aircraft remaining, AVG was forced to move to Loiwing, just across the Chinese border. The tiger crossed into China on a rickety suspension bridge over a deep ravine. A few months later, they returned to destroy the bridge so that no Japanese soldiers could cross to China.
Reinforced by the new P-40E "Kittyhawks" and by an improved aircraft from AVG's remarkable maintenance group, the Lo-12 P-40 is based in Loiwing on April 8th. Despite long retreats, their losses and continuous air combat, AVG still retains their abilities. That day, 12 Oscars from 64 Sentai attacked the base. In the next series of dogfights, four Ki-43s were exchanged for one P-40E that was destroyed on the ground. During this period, Chinese and American commanders pressed Chennault to order its pilots to do so-called "moral missions". These are overflights and ground attacks intended to raise the morale of hard Chinese soldiers by showing them air support. The AVG pilots are angry with this dangerous mission (which is considered useless), a feeling that culminated in the so-called "Pilot's Revolt" in mid-April. Chennault pressed "rebellion" and ordered the ground attack mission to continue. But despite their efforts, the Allied situation in Burma continues to deteriorate. On April 29th, AVG was ordered to evacuate Loiwing and move to Baoshan in China.
Like other AVG bases, Baoshan was repeatedly bombed by the Japanese Air Force. However, AVG scored against their JAAF torturers, dropping four "Nates" from 11th Sentai on May 5 and two "Anns". On May 4, a successful Japanese Burmese offensive began to subside, except for cleanup actions. One of them was an attempt by the Japan Division 56 regiment to push into Kunming, an effort halted by Chinese soldiers operating with strong air support from AVG. On May 7 the Japanese Army began building a pontoon bridge across the upper Salween River, which would allow them to move troops and supplies to China and go to Kunming. To stem the tide, 2nd Squadron Leader David Lee "Tex" Hill leads a flight of four new P-40Es bombings and drove to a depth of miles across the Salween River Gorge. Over the next four days, AVG pilots flew continuous missions to the abyss, effectively neutralizing Japanese troops. This prevents Japanese progress in Kunming and Chungking; Japan never advanced further than the western edge of the upper Salween. Claire Chennault later wrote about these critical missions, "The American Volunteer Group has cut China's collapse in Salween." Despite being in a position to survive afterwards, AVG continues to harass JAAF with attacks at their base in Vietnam.
With Burma's campaign over, Chennault sent his squadron to provide air protection for China. The Doolittle attack has prompted Japan to launch an attack to seize the AVG air base that can be used for attacks on Japanese homeland. On June 1, the personnel who will form the core of the new 23A USAAF Combat Aircraft Group (AVG replacement) began dripping into the theater. Some of AVG's last missions fly defending Guilin against attacks by JAAF Nates, Lilys, and new fighters Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu ("Nick"). AVG's final battle was over Hengyang on the day of its dissolution, July 4, 1942. In this last act, AVG shot down four Ki-27s without losing AVG.
AVG Rating
AVG does not have many resources. Despite its location in areas with malaria and cholera, it was only "four doctors, three nurses and a bottle of iodine." Pilots find disgusting food, and slow letters from home and lack of women hurt the spirit. The squadron has 45 maintenance personnel compared to the normal over 100, and only one base can make major improvements. Nonetheless, AVG is officially credited with 297 enemy aircraft destroyed, including 229 in the air. Fourteen AVG pilots were killed in action, captured, or missing in combat missions. Two people died from injuries sustained in a bomb attack, and six were killed in accidents during the Flying Tigers existence as combat troops.
The AVG killing rate is higher than the contemporary Allied air group in Malaya, Philippines, and elsewhere in the Pacific theater. The success of AVG is all the more remarkable because they are outnumbered by Japanese fighters in almost all of their involvement. AVG P-40 is superior to JAAF's Ki-27, but the ratio of killing the group to the modern Ki-43 is still profitable. In Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942 Daniel Ford attributes the success of AVG to the spirit and the esprit de corps group. He noted that his pilot was a "three volunteers" who had volunteered to serve with the US military, AVG, and brutal combat in Burma. The result is a pilot corps of experienced and skilled volunteers who want to fight.
During their service with the China Nationalist air force, 33 AVG pilots and three ground crew received the Cloud Order and Banner, and many AVG pilots received the Chinese Air Force Medal. Each AVG ace and a double ace is awarded a Five Star or Ten Star Medal.
AVG Members
- Gregory "Pappy" Boyington broke his contract with AVG in the spring of 1942 and returned to active duty with the US Marine Corps. He then leads the "Black Sheep" Squadron and is one of two AVG veterans (the other being James H. Howard of USAAF) to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
- David Lee "Tex" Hill then ordered the 23A USAAF Fighter Group.
- Charles Lama earned a postwar bachelor's degree, a California High Court judge, and presides over the murder trial of Charles Manson.
- Kenneth Jernstedt is a longtime Oregon legislator and mayor of his hometown, Hood River.
- Robert William Prescott, founder of the first scheduled cargo airline in America named Flying Tiger Line. Allen "Bert" Christman, who rescued in Rangoon, was shot and killed when parachuting to the ground in January 1942, previously writing and drawing comics Scorchy Smith and Sandman.
- Journalist Joseph Alsop serves as Chennault's "staff secretary" while AVG is training in Rangoon; he was interned in Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941. Acs
- See also List of Flying Tigers pilots, which include their winnings and paid bonuses.
- Robert Neale: 13 victories
- Ed Rector: 10.5 wins
- David Lee "Tex" Hill: 10.25 wins
- George Burgard: 10 wins
- Robert Little: 10 wins
- Charles Older: 10 wins
- Robert T. Smith: 8.9 wins
- William McGarry: 8 wins
- Charles Bond: 7 wins
- Frank Lawlor: 7 wins
- John V. "Scarsdale Jack" Newkirk: 7 wins
- Robert Hedman: 6 wins
- C. Joseph Rosbert: 6 wins
- J. Richard Rossi: 6.25 victories
- Robert Prescott: 5.5 wins
- Percy Bartelt: 5 wins
- William Bartling: 5 wins
- Edmund Overend: 5 wins
- Robert Sandell: 5 wins
- Robert H. Smith: 5 wins
- Arthur Chin - America's first ace in World War II
- Development of China Nationalist air force (1937-1945)
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek
- History of the Republic of China
- James H. Howard - The Flying Tigers Pilot was later awarded the Medal of Honor
- Pappy Boyington - The Flying Tigers Pilot was later awarded the Medal of Honor
- Chinese Republican Army
- National Revolutionary Army
- Air Force of the Republic of China
- Soviet Volunteer Group
- Whampoa Military Academy
- The Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign
- Lafayette Escadrille - American volunteer at French Air Service during World War I
- Ko? ciuszko Squadron - an American volunteer who fought for Poland in the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921).
- The Yankee Squadron - an American volunteer who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) on the Republican side.
- Eagle Squadron - American volunteers at RAF during World War II
- 23d Fighter Group - USAF Group derived from Flying Tigers
- The Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation
- Annals of the Flying Tigers
- Flying Tigers American Volunteer Group
- Flying Tigers Heritage Park
- "Flying Tigers In Burma", March 30, 1942 Life magazine article , including many photos
- "Wings Over China: The Story of the Flying Tigers" documentary posted by MaxMediaAsia
- Short film Air Force Story - The Drawing of the Battle Lines, December 1941-April 1942 (1953) available for free download on the Internet Archive
- color scheme and AVG tagging
Nineteen pilots are credited by AVG with five or more air-to-air triumphs:
Legacy
Transition to USAAF
The success of AVG led to negotiations in the spring of 1942 to include it in the USAAF. Chennault was restored as a colonel and was soon promoted to brigadier general commander of the US Army airforce unit in China (originally designated China Air Task Force and then 14th Air Force), while continuing to govern AVG based on his position in the Chinese Air Force.. On July 4, 1942, AVG was replaced by the 23rd Combat Group. Most AVG pilots refused to remain in the unit due to strong arm tactics by USAAF generals who were sent to negotiate with them. However, five pilots received a commission in China including "Tex" Hill, one of Chennault's most loyal devotees, with others remaining for a two-week transition period. (US aviators and the press continue to use the name "Flying Tiger" to refer to USAAF units in China until the end of the war, and the name continues to apply to certain air forces and army aviation squadrons.) Most AVG pilots become pilot transport in China , returning to America to civilian work, or rejoining military service and fighting elsewhere in war.
One of the pilots interested in AVG's success was Robert Lee Scott, Jr. which fly supplying to Kunming through Hump from India. He convinces Chennault to lend him the P-40 he flies to protect his supply routes; his aggressiveness caused Chennault to recruit him as commander of the Combat Group 23. Scott brought recognition for his exploits and those of the Flying Tigers with the best-selling autobiography of 1943 God is My Co-Pilot later made by Warner Bros.. became a popular movie in 1945.
Tributes and alerts
There are several museum exhibits in the United States in honor of the Flying Tiger. The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, has a large screen dedicated to AVG, including the A-2 jacket worn by AVG pilots in China, banners presented to AAF by the Chinese government, and P-40E. Naval Aviation National Museum in Pensacola, Florida also has a Flying Tiger screen. The Chennault Aviation Museum in Monroe, Louisiana has an extensive collection of Flying Tigers and AVG memorabalia. AVG Monument at the National Museum of the United States Air Force Memorial Garden features a pagoda marble statue crowned with a P-40 brass model; the monument stands nearly 14 meters. The Palm Springs Air Museum has a memorabilia look inside the AVG ground facility mockup, with P-40N painted with AVG marker. Finally, a warning for AVG and AF 14 is located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, depicting the P-40 in the AVG mark with a bronze plaque depicting the unit's history and Vandenberg's role as the headquarters for the 14th AF.
There are also some caveats for AVG in Asia. In Chiang Mai, Thailand, a marble obelisk dedicated on November 11, 2003, written for Chennault; to Jack Newkirk, who was killed in Northern Thailand on March 24, 1942; and to Charles Mott and William McGarry, who were shot down and arrested in Thailand. In Taiwan, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek asked for a Chennault statue in New Taipei Park to commemorate this friend of war after his death (the statue has been transferred to Hualian AFB). A Flying Tigers Memorial is located in the village of Zhijiang, Hunan Province, China and there is a museum dedicated exclusively to Flying Tigers. The building is a steel and marble structure, with broad sweeping steps leading to the platform with a column holding the memorial's sweeping roof; on the back wall, engraved in black marble, is the name of all members of AVG, 75th Combat Squadron, and 14th Air Force who died in China. In 2005, the city of Kunming held a ceremony commemorating the history of the Flying Tiger in China, and on December 20, 2012, the Museum of Flying Tigers opened in Kunming. The date is the 71st anniversary of the first battle of Kunming from the Flying Tigers. The Memorial Cemetery to Anti-Japanese Aviator Martyrs in Nanjing, China has a wall listing the names of Flying Tiger pilots and other pilots who defended China in World War II, and has some unmarked graves for such American pilots.
The largest private museum in China, the Chengdu Jianchuan Museum, devotes its military wing to the history of the Flying Tiger, including a wall of honor featuring a thousand photos of the Flying Tiger members' porcelain as well. as many historical artifacts from that era.
In March 2015, the Flying Tiger Heritage Park opened in Guilin in cooperation with the Flying Tiger History Organization. The park is built on the Yangtang Airfield site and includes museums, aircraft shelters, and relics of command posts located in a cave.
Flying Tigers wrecks
The P-40 ruins with the CAF serial number P-8115 are on display in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The plane is believed to be flown by William McGarry's "Mac" when he was hit by an anti-aircraft fire while flying over the top cover of Chiang Mai on March 24, 1942. The plane crashed into a rain forest in northern Thailand. McGarry was arrested and interrogated, and spent most of the war in Thai prisons. Towards the end of the war, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) set the Free Thai Movement to raise it out of prison to Catalina PBY in the Gulf of Thailand. The P-40 ruins were discovered in 1991, and consisted of Allison P-40 engines, Hamilton Standard propellers, and airframe parts. Today the junk was on display at the Tango Squadron Wing 41 Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Another AVG P-40 carcass is believed to be on Dianchi Lake (Lake Kunming). The fighters were believed to be the P-40E driven by John Blackburn when he fell to the lake on a training flight on April 28, 1942, killing the pilot. His body was found from the plane, which was submerged in 20 feet of water. In 1997 a Chinese-US group called the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation was formed to locate the aircraft and possibly raise and restore it. In March 1998, they contacted the Chinese Expedition Association about performing a recovery operation. More than 300 aircraft are believed to have crashed into Lake Dianchi (including the second AVG P-40) so finding the aircraft proved difficult. In 2003, a plane believed to be Blackburn was found embedded under a nine-foot-high mud. The attempt was made in September 2005 to raise the plane, but the recovery was plagued with difficulties and remained well below the bottom of the lake. Since the aircraft was completed and relatively undamaged when John Blackburn's body was removed from him in 1942, it was expected that the plane would be in good condition and capable of recovering, possibly for flying conditions.
Recognition by the United States
Just before their 50th reunion in 1992, AVG veterans were retroactively recognized as members of the US military service for the group's seven months in combat against Japan. AVG was later awarded a Presidential Quotation Unit for "exceptional professionalism, dedication to duty, and heroism." In 1996, the US Air Force rewarded Cross Distinctished Flying Cross pilots and the ground crew were all awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Popular culture
A number of feature films have referenced AVG directly or indirectly, most notably the Flying Tigers, a 1942 black-and-white film from the Republic, starring John Wayne and John Carroll as fighter pilots. Other wartime movies with AVG angles include The Sky's the Limit (1943, starring Fred Astaire as a Flying Tiger ace on leave); His Own Survive (1943, with Joseph Cotten); God is My Co-Pilot , (1945, with Dennis Morgan as Robert Lee Scott, Raymond Massey as Chennault, and John Ridgely as Tex Hill); and Chinese Little Devil (1945).
Similarly, the Flying Tiger has been the focus of several novels, including Tonya , by Pappy Boyington; Fixed , by Daniel Ford; Spies in the Park , by Bob Bergin and Tiger Ten by William D Blankenship. A novel for younger readers is Tiger, Lion, Hawk by Earle Rice Jr.
In the Star Wars Warfare Guide book, Starfighter X-wing squadrons named "Lightspeed Panthers" are mentioned in the book. Warfare co-author Paul R. Urquhart asserts in Warfare ' s note that the squadron is intended to be a direct reference to the Flying Tigers.
The Falcons Air Force football team saluted the Chinese military and US Navy and Marine Corps in their special Flying Tigers uniforms, including the sharktooth designs on the helm, for two games during the 2016 college football season. The first team wore a uniform for game 10 September against Georgia State, and once again for Arizona Bowl against South Alabama.
See also
About China
About American volunteers
References
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Source
External links
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