Page 74 - History of War - Issue 30-16

THE FLYING TIGERS

Rangoon. Nine Flying Tiger pilots gunned the pair of Ki-27s. Chennault also had described “19 FLYING TIGER PILOTS WERE
engines of their P-40s and descended on the enemy ighters as Zeroes, and debate
enemy like avenging angels. 24 Japanese continues as to whether the Flying Tigers OFFICIALLY CREDITED WITH FIVE
aircraft were shot down in lames, while three actually fought the fabled Japanese plane
P-40s were lost. during their seven months of aerial combat. OR MORE CONFIRMED AERIAL
A day later, 200 more Japanese aircraft Some sources support the claim that the
appeared above the city, and six Flying Tiger P-40 pilots did battle Zeroes, while others VICTORIES DURING THEIR
P-40s mounted a spirited defence, roaring assert that the Imperial Japanese Navy had
through the Japanese formations to claim 18 withdrawn its assets from the Asian mainland COMBAT TOURS WITH THE AVG,
enemy planes destroyed. prior to the AVG’s entry into combat. In either
19 Flying Tiger pilots were oficially credited case, the majority of enemy ighters that the ACHIEVING ACE STATUS”
with ive or more conirmed aerial victories American pilots duelled in the air above China
during their combat tours with the AVG, and Burma were Ki-27s, nicknamed ‘Nate’ by
achieving ace status. Tex Hill served as a light the Allies, and the Ki-43 ‘Oscar’, a Japanese subsequently adopted the nickname of the
leader and squadron commander with the Army ighter that bore a close resemblance to Flying Tigers. Five veteran AVG pilots, including
Panda Bears and, in addition to his 10.25 kills the Zero – accounting for some confusion. Tex Hill, remained with the 23rd Fighter Group
with the AVG, inished the war with 15.25. He Through it all, the Flying Tigers’ ground crews to train new pilots.
scored his irst aerial victories on 3 January performed minor miracles, managing to keep Meanwhile, in April 1942, Claire Chennault
1942, during a straing mission against the enough P-40s in the air to continually battle the returned to the Army Air Forces with the rank
Japanese airield at Tak, Thailand, and vividly Japanese. Damaged planes were cannibalised of colonel, commanding the China Air Task
recalled the encounter. for spare parts. Supplies were scarce, and Force. His weathered face made the cover of
“I was really excited as we neared the target those that did arrive had travelled an immense the 10 August 1942, issue of Life magazine.
area. It was then that I noticed there were too distance across ocean, by rail, and in the air. Even though the Flying Tigers had ceased to
many of us in formation,” Hill remembered. Despite having no bomb racks itted to their exist as an independent ighting force a month
“Somehow a Japanese Zero swooped in and planes, the Flying Tigers even improvised some earlier, their exploits remained popular with
got on the tail of the P-40 in front of me. I explosives, rigging pipe bombs to parachutes the media.
pulled the trigger, ired my machine guns, and originally intended for lares and illing empty In March 1943, Chennault was promoted to
shot the Zero down. Unknown to me there was scotch and whiskey bottles with gasoline as the rank of major general and given command
another Zero up there with us, but I didn’t see makeshift incendiaries. of the Fourteenth Air Force, a post that he held
him in time. He put 33 bullet holes in my P-40 During an interview with a war correspondent, until August 1945. He retired that October and
fuselage before I could break away. one Flying Tiger pilot asked the reporter to, died in Washington, DC, at the age of 67 on 27
“Later, during that same mission, another “Save some big words for our ground crews. July 1958.
Jap came in straight at me – head on!” Hill They have gone through straings, dodged The legacy of the Flying Tigers is one of Images: Alamy, Mary Evans, Getty, Rex Features
continued. “I held the machine-gun trigger bombs, and have always been out there grit, determination, and bravery against
down. We got closer and closer. I thought we working on our planes at all hours.” overwhelming odds. Surely this handful of
were going to collide, but he just blew up in On 4 July 1942, the American Volunteer American pilots should continue to capture
front of me. I never touched a piece of his Group was oficially disbanded. Reconstituted the imagination today not solely because they
wreckage either.” as the China Air Task Force of the US Army Air dared to take on the Japanese – but also
Although Hill identiied his victims as Forces, the squadrons later joined the 23rd because they consistently bested their enemy
Zeroes, other accounts refer to them as a Fighter Group of the Fourteenth Air Force, which in the air.

A Flying Tiger veteran
photographed in front of an
image of his comrades, at
Kunming Museum, China

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