In April, 1937, Claire L. Chennault, then a captain in the United States Army Air
Corps, retired from active duty and accepted an offer from Madame Chiang Kai-shek
for a three month mission to China to make a confidential survey of the Chinese
Air Force. At that time China and Japan were on the verge of war and
the fledgling Chinese Air Force was beset by internal problems and torn between
American and Italian influence. Madame Chiang Kai-shek took over leadership
of the Aeronautical Commission in order to reorganize the Chinese Air Force.
This was the beginning of Chennault's stay in China which did not terminate
until 1945 at the close of World War II. Chennault's combat and other
experiences between 1937 and 1941 in China are another story, but it was these
experiences together with the knowledge he attained of combat tactics and the
operations of Japanese Air Force over China that laid the ground work for the
organization of the American Volunteer Group in 1941. |
Lt. General Claire Lee Chennault is remembered as a national hero in China for commanding
the Flying Tigers to victory over the Japanese. |
During the summer of 1941, 300 young American men and women secretly trained in the
jungles of Southeast Asia, preparing to face the Japanese Air Force in combat
over the skies of China and Burma. Within weeks of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, the daring exploits of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) captured the
imagination of the world. The Chinese called them Fei Hu, for the shark's teeth
painted on their planes. The world knew them as the legendary Flying Tigers. |
A website dedicated to the history and legend of the Flying Tigers |
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