The pilot training cadre, furnished by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, awarded wings automatically, regardless of qualifications, to the sons of Chinese politicians. 72.) The Chinese had struggled to build an air force without success, employing a succession of ineffective foreign advisors and mercenaries. (See “Before the Flying Tigers,” June 1999, p. No fighting airplane is more quickly recognized than the P-40 with the shark’s teeth and the glaring eye.Ĭhina had been at war since 1931, when the Japanese seized Manchuria.
The Flying Tigers are one of the most famous and admired organizations in all of military history. The AVG’s combat run was brief, but it was long enough to establish the legend. Nevertheless, they shot down at least 10 Japanese airplanes for every one they lost, and they held the line in China until the regular Army Air Forces could get there. They were chronically short of parts and supplies. They faced an enemy force that was 20 times larger with better airplanes. They never had more than 50 combat ready aircraft at a time, and never more than 70 pilots ready to fly. The Flying Tigers existed as a combat unit for only seven months. (See “Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” March 2002, p. Chennault, who had retired from the Army Air Corps as a captain in 1937, had no military rank, even though the Chinese called him “colonel.” His passport said he was a farmer. The AVG, pilots and ground crews alike, were former members of the US armed forces, recruited to fight on contract for the Chinese Air Force, which had been effectively blown out of the sky by the Japanese. “Japanese airmen never again tried to bomb Kunming while the AVG defended it,” Chennault said. There would be more encounters with the Japanese Air Force, but not over Kunming. The mayor of Kunming and hundreds of citizens thronged to the airfield in a procession to heap honor and thanks on the AVG.
“It was a good job, but not good enough,” he said. They were met on the ground by their leather-faced leader, Claire L. The P-40s returned to the field and one of them did a victory roll. They referred to themselves as the American Volunteer Group, or AVG. That name, bestowed on them back in the United States, came later. However, they were not yet known as the Flying Tigers. The shark-mouthed P-40s were the fabled Flying Tigers on their first combat mission. It exploded before reaching the Indochina border. The others broke away, but one of them was trailing smoke. They did not get far before they were caught by more of the fighters, which ripped through the formation and shot down three bombers. The Japanese jettisoned their bombs and fled. The bombers were circling around to strike the city from the far side when they were intercepted by four P-40s. For the previous two days, two squadrons of fighter aircraft had been stationed at Kunming-Curtiss P-40s with 12-pointed Chinese stars on their wings and red-and-white shark’s teeth markings around their air scoops. They had bombed Kunming and Chungking regularly for more than a year without opposition. The Japanese did not know-and would not have cared if they had known-that the surveillance and warning network had spotted them and relayed the word to Kunming. Their target was Kunming in southwestern China, the capital of Yunnan Province and the eastern terminus of the Burma Road. Ten Japanese bombers, twin-engine Kawasaki Ki-48s, took off from the Gia Lam airfield near Hanoi on the morning of Dec.