 China, Chennault told them to ignore everything they had learned about air combat. Like all U.S. pilots, they had been trained in World War I dog fighting. The Japanese aircraft were far superior at that. So Chennault trained his pilots to fly above their targets, use their superior speed and dense machine gun fire to dive through in a slashing attack, and then climb back for another run. He trained them intensively to fight this way.
Despite its fame, the American Volunteer Group was only active from December 20, 1941, to July 4, 1942. Within weeks the war began, the United States Army and Navy began efforts to absorb the AVG and return its pilots and ground crews to active duty. However, Army and Navy recruiters used heavy-handed tactics and insisted that the sick and war-weary and ill pilots continue without a rest. Only a few AVG pilots signed up, although most soon took jobs in the armed forces or associated organizations. The few pilots who did sign up formed the nucleus of the new 23d Fighter Group, which carried on the name Flying Tigers. The new tigers were part of Chennault’s new 14th Air Force.
Claire Chennault was made a brigadier general on April 22, 1942. Jimmy Doolittle was made a brigadier on April 19—immediately his raid on Japan. In Chunking, which was the capital of China, General Bissell gave Doolittle two collar stars. When Doolittle passed through Kunming on his way back to the United States, he met Chennault. Doolittle realized that Chennault did not have his stars yet. He removed one of his own and gave it to Chennault.
With the Flying Tigers, it is difficult to separate fact from the enormous amount of fiction generated around the AVG. For instance, many people get their view of the AVG from the John Wayne movie Flying Tigers. However, the movie portrayed the AVG pilots as being a motley group of former transport pilots. In fact, except for a few who lied to get in, the AVG pilots were trained fighter pilots. In addition, the movie ends with the AVG pilots learning that the war had begun. As we saw earlier, the Flying Tigers did not have their first engagement until two weeks after Pearl Harbor.
The Flying Tigers are forever associated with China. During the critical first weeks of the war, however, they did almost all of their fighting in Burma. As noted earlier, the Tigers’ headquarters was Kunming, which was the end of the 700-mile Burma Road that began in Lashio, Burma. The British moved goods to Lashio by rail from the southern port of Rangoon. Shortly after the beginning of the war, the Japanese began to attack Burma. They took Rangoon and then pushed north. The Flying Tigers had three squadrons of about 18 aircraft each at the best of times. Chennault rotated the squadrons one at a time into the Burma fighting. The Flying Tigers decimated Japanese air raids but could do nothing more than help slow the advance.
There also is confusion about the Japanese aircraft the AVG fought in Burma and China. Although most people realize that many Flying Tiger victories were against Japanese bombers, they often assume that the fighters the AVG faced were the Mitsubishi A6M Zeros of the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, all Zeros had been withdrawn from China by the time the war started. The most common fighter the Flying Tigers faced was the Japanese Army Air Force Ki-27 Nate. The Nate was a half a generation behind the P-40 and the Zero. It had non-retractable wheels. Although it was supremely maneuverable, it only had two rifle-caliber machine guns and was much slower than the P-40s of the AVG.
When the Ki-27s proved far inferior to the AVG’s P-40s, the Japanese deployed their new Ki-43 Hayabusa, which Americans codenamed Oscar. The Ki-43 was very similar to the Zero. It was about as fast as the Zero (and therefore still slower than the P-40), and about as maneuverable. Like the Zero and the Nate, the Oscar had two rifle-caliber machine guns. However, the Oscar lacked the Zero’s two additional cannon.
Even the original Flying Tiger P-40B aircraft were faster than the Nate and Hayabusa, and the P-40Bs had pilot armor and two heavy caliber machine guns plus four rifle-caliber machine guns. Later, the AVG was reequipped with P-40Es that were faster and had six heavy caliber machine guns. However, MacArthur had P-40Es at the beginning of the war and did poorly against Japanese fighters. The AVG was successful largely because of Chennault’s air combat tactics, which eventually became U.S. fighter doctrine.
There is also confusion about the number of Flying Tigers kills. AVG pilots claimed 296 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground. Although the actual number destroyed was probably overstated [Ford, 2007], the Tigers made the Japanese pay a very high price for Burma. However, they never had more than about 50 available aircraft and usually had many fewer. This was tiny compared to the Japanese air armada facing them. Even with their very high kill ratio, the Flying Tigers could only fight a delaying war. In addition, the Flying Tigers pilots paid a high price. Nearly a quarter were killed, captured, or missing in action.
Although there is a great deal of myth surrounding the Flying Tigers, there is one thing that we know about them for certain. The Flying Tigers were the heroes that America needed when America never needed heroes more.
At the beginning of the war, the P-40 Warhawk was the USAAF’s main fighter. The first significant model was the P-40B, which had two big 50-caliber machine guns in the nose and two small 30-caliber machine guns in each wing. This was the model that Welch and Taylor flew at Pearl Harbor. It was also the first model flown by the Flying Tigers. The British and Canadians called it the Tomahawk.
The more powerful and faster P-40E was just coming into service at the beginning of the war. These aircraft had three 50-caliber machine guns in each wing. MacArthur had P-40Es in the Philippines, although these were quickly destroyed. The Flying Tigers upgraded to the P-40E, which the British and Canadians called the Kittyhawk.
After the war, the Allies destroyed most of their P-40 Warhawks. Fortunately, Fred Dyson purchased large a number of British and Canadian Kittyhawks and moved them to Seattle. It is thanks to his foresight that many U.S. museums have P-40s Warhawks to display. Our aircraft is one of Dyson’s Kittyhawks. It was delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in April 1942, which was about the same time the Flying Tigers got their P-40Es. After the Kittyhawk was rescued by Dyson, it was sold multiple times. The Flying Tiger Line and Tiger International inc. purchased the aircraft in the early 1980s, painted it in the colors of the Flying Tigers, and loaned it to the San Diego Air and Space Museum. FedEx inherited the aircraft when it purchased the Flying Tiger Airlines in 1989. Recently, FedEx decided to loan the airplane to Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 8:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I have heard from my family that my uncle flew with the Flying Tigers. Is there a way to find a listing of pilots?
I’m not sure if anyone answered your question yet but here is an answer for you. Go to flyingtigersavg.com and on the home page there is a site to see the entire roster. Hope that helps. He may have flown with the 23rd or 14th which also used the “Flying Tiger” name.
I think this is good that you are commemorating men and women who contributed with their energy and lives to bringing peace to the world.
Its unfortunate for the Allies and Japanese that violence is needed to solve problems and not dipomacy,but this is a reality of his world.
One comment was that “War is the result of failed Diplomacy”.
Thanks for the site. My father, SGT or TSGT Robert E. Sternard was with the Tigers as an armorer. I have some old pictures. Unfortunately, I used to have his leather jacket and other memorabilia but I came across it way too young, did not appreciate the significance, and lost it. Glad I still have pix including one signed by the General.
Thank you for your comment Rob. We are putting together a P-40 AVG display at the Museum in the coming months.
Good job – great article. Dispelled a few myths too! Thanks.
Interesting however that you used a picture (plane 16) that seems slighty incongrous; ie., great shot but the P51A seems out of place – although great depiction of the airmen.
I visited the museum at Pearl Harbour 1 year ago – loved it. Thanks again.Taking the female sparrow with him, the woodpecker called on the fly and told him, “This is my dearest friend. A wild elephant has squashed her eggs. You must somehow find a way to kill that elephant. We need your help.” The