Flying Tigers Totally Explained

Everything about Flying Tigers totally explained

:This article concerns the 1st American Volunteer Group, a World War II unit known as “The Flying Tigers.” For follow-on units, see the AVG main heading; for other uses of the name, see Flying Tigers (disambiguation). Flying Tigers was the nickname of the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) that operated within the Chinese Air Force in 1941 and 1942. In essence, the group was a private military contractor, although they've also been called mercenaries. Its members were former United States Army (USAAF), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC) pilots and ground crew, recruited under Presidential approval and commanded by Claire Chennault. The group consisted of three fighter squadrons that trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II with the intention of defending China against Japanese forces.
The Tigers' shark-faced fighters remain among the most recognizable of any individual combat aircraft of World War II, and they demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces.
The group first saw combat on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor (local time). It achieved notable success during the lowest period of the war for U.S. and Allied Forces, giving hope to Americans that they'd eventually succeed against the Japanese. The Tigers were credited with destroying almost 300 aircraft while losing only 14 pilots on combat missions. In July 1942, the AVG replaced by the U.S. Army 23rd Fighter Group, which was later absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force with General Chennault as commander. The 23rd Group went on to achieve similar combat success, while retaining the nose art and nickname of the volunteer unit.

History

The AVG was largely the creation of Claire L. Chennault, a retired U.S. Army Air Corps officer who became military aviation advisor to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in the Sino-Japanese War. Chennault's retirement from the U.S. Army, ostensibly for physical disability, probably owed much to the unpopularity of his advocacy of "pursuit" aviation over bombardment, contrary to the beliefs of the upper echelons of the USAAC, and to his hope that he could implement his theories in China. Even before he retired, Chennault had been approached by Chinese Air Force (CAF) officials and offered the opportunity to undertake the training and organization of the CAF. He also saw it as a "chance to put his ideas into effect" in China.

Formation of the AVG

Chennault spent the winter of 1940–1941 in Washington, supervising the purchase of 100 Curtiss P-40 fighters (diverted from a Royal Air Force order) and the recruiting of 100 pilots and about 200 ground crewmen. Forty pilots came from the Army Air Corps, although one was refused a passport because he'd earlier flown as a mercenary in Spain. (Ten more army flight instructors were hired as check pilots for Chinese cadets, and some of these would ultimately join the AVG’s combat squadrons.) Sixty pilots came from the Navy and Marine Corps.
   The volunteer pilots were discharged from the American armed services, to be employed for "training and instruction" by a private military contractor, the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which paid them $600 a month for pilot officer, $675 a month for flight leader, and $750 for squadron leader, although no pilot was recruited at this level. (A USAAF captain in 1942, with flight and overseas pay, earned $347 a month.) The pilots were also orally promised a bounty of $500 for each enemy aircraft shot down.
   Although sometimes regarded as a mercenary unit, the AVG had government funding and approval. Most histories of the Flying Tigers indicate that on 15 April 1941, President Roosevelt signed a "secret executive order" authorizing servicemen on active duty to resign from the U.S. military in order to sign up for the AVG. However, Flying Tigers historian Daniel Ford could find no evidence that such an order ever existed, and he argued that "a wink and a nod" was more the president's style. In any event, the AVG was organized and in part directed out of the White House until the unit was disbanded.
   The 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) was formed with plans for a follow-on bomber group and second fighter group that were aborted after the Pearl Harbor attack. During the summer and fall 1941, some 300 men carrying civilian passports that boarded ships destined for Burma. They were initially based at a British airfield in Toungoo for training while their aircraft were assembled and test flown. Chennault set up schoolhouse type conditions which was made all the more necessary because many pilots had "lied about their flying experience, claiming pursuit experience when they'd flown only bombers and sometimes much less powerful airplanes."
   The P-40's good qualities included pilot armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, sturdy construction, heavy armament (two 50-cal. and four 30-cal. machine guns), and a higher diving speed than most Japanese aircraft – qualities that could be used to advantage in accordance with Chennault's combat tactics. Chennault created an early warning network of spotters that would give his fighters time to take off and climb to a superior altitude where this tactic could be executed.
   AVG fighter aircraft were painted with a large shark face on the front of the aircraft. This was done after pilots saw a photograph of No. 112 Squadron RAF in North Africa sporting a fierce shark mouth, which in turn had adopted the shark motif from German pilots flying Messerschmitt Bf-110 fighters in Crete. About the same time, the AVG was dubbed "The Flying Tigers" by their Washington support group, called China Defense Supplies.

Combat history

The port of Rangoon in Burma and the Burma Road leading from there to China were of crucial importance for the Republic of China, as the eastern regions of China were under Japanese occupation so virtually all of the foreign matériel destined for the armed forces of the Republic arrived via that port. By November 1941, when the pilots were trained and most of the P-40s had arrived in Asia, the Flying Tigers were divided into three squadrons: 1st Squadron (“Adam & Eves”); 2nd Squadron (“Panda Bears”) and 3rd Squadron (“Hell’s Angels”). Another researcher interviewed Japanese veterans that were engaged with the AVG and came up with a much lower number of victories (115) based on Japanese accounts.
   Fourteen pilots were killed in action, captured, or disappeared on combat missions, two died of wounds sustained in bombing raids and six were killed in accidents during the Flying Tigers' existence as a combat force.
   Even when using the lower figure of Japanese aircraft downed, the AVG's kill ratio was still superior to that achieved by contemporary Allied air groups in Malaya, the Philippines and elsewhere. The AVG's success is all the more remarkable since they were outnumbered by Japanese fighters in almost all of their engagements. While it's true that the AVG's P-40s were arguably superior to the JAAF's Ki-27s, the AVG's kill ratio against modern Ki-43s was still in its favor. In Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942, Daniel Ford attributes the AVG's success to morale and group esprit. He notes that its pilots were "triple volunteers" who had volunteered for service with the U.S. military, the AVG, and brutal fighting in Burma. The result was a corps of experienced and skilled volunteer pilots who wanted to fight.
   However success with the P-40 in this theater of war wasn't at all unique to the AVG. Other P-40 equipped squadrons operating in the CBI (China / Burma / India theater) notably, the 10th and 14th air forces, did extremely well against the Japanese Air Force. P-40s shot down 973 enemy aircraft in theater, 64.8 percent of all the enemy aircraft lost. Aviation historian Carl Molesworth stated that "...the P-40 simply dominated the skies over Burma and China. They were able to establish air superiority over free China, northern Burma and the Assam valley of India in 1942, and they never relinquished it." The postwar reputation of the P-40 may have been undeserved. With suitable tactics the P-40 did well in many theaters, and numerous aces and double aces flew the aircraft from Australia, the UK, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and the Soviet Union.

Notable AVG personalities

One of the more famous pilots was Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, who was discharged from the AVG in April 1942 and returned to active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. He went on to command the successful “Black Sheep” Squadron in the Solomon Islands, an outfit with many similarities to the Flying Tigers, and was one of two AVG veterans (the other being James Howard of the USAAF) to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Other notable AVG veterans were David Lee "Tex" Hill, later commander of the USAAF 23rd Fighter Group; Charles Older, who postwar earned a law degree, became a California Superior Court judge, and presided at the murder trial of Charles Manson; and Kenneth Jernstedt, long-time Oregon legislator and mayor of his home town of Hood River. Robert Prescott founded Flying Tiger Line as a cargo carrier, along with other AVG pilots.

Transition into the USAAF

The success of the AVG led to negotiations in spring 1942 to induct the unit into the USAAF with Chennault as the commander. Chennault was reinstated into the USAAF as a colonel and immediately promoted to brigadier general as commander of tactical U.S. Army Air Forces units in China, (initially designated the "China Air Task Force" and later redesignated the 14th Air Force), while continuing to command the AVG by virtue of his position in the Chinese Air Force. On 4 July 1942, the AVG was replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group. Not all of the AVG pilots decided to remain with the unit as a result of the strong arm tactics by the USAAF general sent to negotiate with them. However, five pilots accepted commissions in China including "Tex" Hill, one of Chennault's most loyal devotees, with others remaining for a two-week transition period. (U.S. airmen and the press continued to use the “Flying Tiger” name to refer to USAAF units in China to the end of the war, and the name continues to be applied to certain air force and army aviation squadrons.) Most AVG pilots became transport pilots in China, went back to America into civilian jobs, or rejoined the military services and fought elsewhere in the war.
One of the pilots drawn to the success of the AVG was Robert Lee Scott, Jr. who was flying supplies into Kunming over the Hump from India. He convinced Chennault to loan him a P-40 which he began flying as a one man air force to protect the supply route. His aggressiveness and success led to Chennault recruiting him as commander of the 23rd Fighter Group. Scott brought recognition to his exploits and the Flying Tigers with his best selling book God is My Co-pilot that was also made into a popular movie.

Recognition of the AVG

Just before their 50th reunion in 1992, the AVG veterans were retroactively recognized as members of the U.S. military services during the seven months the group was in combat against the Japanese. The AVG was then awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for "professionalism, dedication to duty, and extraordinary heroism." In 1996, the U.S. Air Force awarded the pilots the Distinguished Flying Cross and the ground crew were all awarded the Bronze Star.
Thirty-three AVG pilots and three ground crew received the Nationalist Chinese Order of the Cloud Banner, and many AVG pilots received the Nationalist Chinese Air Force Medal. Each AVG ace and double ace was awarded the Nationalist Chinese Five Star or Ten Star Wing Medal.

AVG Aces

As with all air forces, there was overclaiming by the AVG due to the confusion and speed of air combat. For example, in the big Christmas Day battle over Rangoon, AVG and RAF pilots claimed 28 Japanese aircraft while 10 were actually lost. In the same combat, Japanese Army Air Force pilots and gunners claimed 36 Allied aircraft while eight were actually shot down. It would only be after the war that true combat losses could be determined by comparing the after action and loss reports of the combatants.
Nineteen pilots were credited by the AVG with five or more air-to-air victories:
The wreck of another AVG P-40 is believed to be in Lake Dianchi (Lake Kunming). The fighter is believed to be a P-40E piloted by John Blackburn when it crashed into the lake on a gunnery training flight on 28 April 1942, killing the pilot. His body was recovered from the aircraft, which was submerged in 20 feet of water. In 1997 a U.S.-Chinese 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 China Expedition Association about conducting the recovery operation. Over 300 aircraft are believed to have crashed into Lake Dianchi (including a second AVG P-40) so locating the aircraft proved difficult. In 2003, an aircraft believed to be Blackburn's was found embedded in nine feet of bottom silt. An effort was made in September 2005 to raise the aircraft, but the recovery was plagued with difficulties and it remains deep under the lake bottom. Since the aircraft was complete and relatively undamaged when John Blackburn's body was removed from it in 1942, it's hoped that the aircraft will be in good condition and capable of being restored, possibly to flying condition.

Popular culture

The legacy of the Flying Tigers has entered the public psyche. The blood chit on the back of leather flying jacket complete with Chinese writing and flag is a common fashion statement even to those who have never heard of the Flying Tigers. Toy and hobby stores still stock model and toys of shark-mouthed Tomahawks, some with the Chinese Nationalist insignia. One 1960s magazine even featured a Flying Tiger shooting peas in a food magazine. The Franco-Belgian comic strip Buck Danny revives the Flying Tigers in the spirit as the original Flying Tigers were created, with short history blurbs referencing the original Flying Tigers. Jake Cutter, the pilot hero of the early 1980s adventure TV show Tales of the Gold Monkey and mechanic Corky, were Flying Tigers in semi-retirement.

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