1. The American Volunteer Group (AVG), also known as the Flying Tigers, had a successful
history in World War II. They were formed in 1941 under the secret authorization of President
Franklin Roosevelt, and carried out miraculous operations for the Chinese defense against the
Japanese. Despite losing men, they never lost a battle during the war and their reputation grew.
However, there have been changes in the way historians have written about this group. In the
early and mid-1940s, while the AVG was involved in World War II and directly after the end of
the war, the group was viewed as heroic and patriotic. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s,
historians began to write from different approaches and perspectives. With new techniques,
historians not only look at history differently, but they reexamine and reinterpret historical
information. In the 1970s, the scholarship written about the Flying Tigers from earlier decades
was reviewed and new scholarship prepared with the newly discovered information from that
time period. In the 1980s, work was primarily about the infamous Claire Chennault. We do not
see much written about the Flying Tiger’s questionable past until the early 2000s asking
whether or not the Flying Tigers were truly as heroic as the scholarship from early decades
suggested. Although the history of the Flying Tigers cannot be altered, the way historians look
at the Flying Tigers has changed.
In the mid-1940s, since historians wrote with a progressive approach at this time in
history, the Flying Tigers were made into heroes and no one really searched for the reasons
why. Historians using the progressive approach wrote about the conflicts that were taking place
at that time. With the war taking place, the pieces written at this time focused on exactly that.
Using this writing technique, the Flying Tigers were praised for their heroism during the war.
Since Americans wanted to know more about the men that helped end the war, works that

2. 2
provided insight into the everyday lives of the Flying Tigers became popular, along with articles
or books that conveyed their success. For example, two works published at this time include
John Lancaster Riordan’s article, written in 1948, titled “A.V.G. Lingo” and the 1940s work by
Leonard Engel titled Japan’s Losses in the Southwest Pacific. Riordan’s article discusses 50
different phrases and words that could help readers understand the diction the Flying Tigers
used on a day-to-day basis. According to Riordan, “the vocabulary reflects interest chiefly in
liquor, sex, duties, and certain other activities.”1 Leonard Engel’s article, however, provides
statistics about their success including war records stating that nearly 300 Japanese planes
were shot down a week before the end of that particular month and all but 100 of them were
victims of the Flying Tigers fighting under the Chinese flag.2
In the 1950s and 1960s, a shift in the way historians write about history took place.
When World War II ended, so did the progressive approach to writing about history; the new
approach is called the consensus era. With this new approach, historians wrote celebrating the
accomplishments and achievements of the United States. The articles and books written about
the Flying Tigers with this approach seem to shift from the basic heroic story about the group as
a whole to certain tales about the individuals, probably to celebrate their successes. These are
usually based on diaries of the men who fought in the war, especially Claire Chennault. This
may be due to the fact that Chennault passed away in 1953 and the works of the 1960s are
most likely written for the ten year anniversary of his death. Most of the works that were
written about him are in the form of biographies and diary excerpts. Although these are
1 John Riordan,“A.V.G. Lingo,” American Speech 23, no. 1 (1948): 29–32.
2 Leonard Engel, “Japan’s Losses in the Southwest Pacific,” Institute of Pacific Relations 11, no. 5 (1942): 60–62.

3. 3
primary source documents and not scholarship written by historians, it is important to explain
that they were a big piece of the Flying Tigers’ coverage since Chennault had founded the AVG.
Works such as Flying Tiger: Chennault of China by Robert Lee Scott3 and Chennault and the
Flying Tigers by his wife Anna Chennault4 are important because they bring to life the late Claire
Chennault and provide insight to his personal life, not just his military life. Robert Lee Scott,
serving under Chennault’s command, highlights parts of Chennault’s life including how he was
put on a “short leash,” meaning they were trying to control him from a disciplinary standpoint,
early in his career for being somewhat of a maverick in the sky. This means that he was very
daring and sometimes got into trouble with his commanders for crossing lines in order to
achieve success. Scott discusses Chennault’s courage and how serving under him was a
privilege.
In the 1970s a new approach to history called the “new left” approach became
common. With this new approach, new left historians began writing about the issues they
found important in the world such as civil rights, gender roles, gay rights, and especially war.
This new approach affected the way historians wrote about the Flying Tigers drastically and the
critique of the AVG and their dealings in the Pacific now included negative connotations.
Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the clandestine behaviors that took place
throughout that war were starting to surface. With these secret missions and attacks taking
place, the secrets about World War II were starting to become questions of interest for scholars
due again to the “new left” approach to history. By using this new approach, historians were
3 Robert Scott, Flying Tiger: Chennault of China, 1st ed. (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1959).
4 Anna Chennault, Chennault and the Flying Tigers, (New York: Paul.S. Eriksson,Inc.,1963).

4. 4
starting to question the war and saw it to be violent and sometimes racist. This made people
start to question the purpose of the war, as if the mandatory war draft was not enough. In
addition, with new technologies being developed, people were, for the first time, viewing
photographs of the brutal Vietnam War. These photographs of soldier and civilian deaths
provided people real insight to war that had never been accessible in the past. Although
photographs had been available since the United States Civil War, the civilian deaths were a
new reality that people were now becoming accustomed to seeing.
This created a controversial and complicated opinion of war that not only the soldiers
had, but also the civilians of the United States were starting to develop. Historians such as
Michael Schaller, the author of the article “Air Strategy in China, 1939-1941: The Origins of
Clandestine Air Warfare,” discovered that the Flying Tigers had participated in a couple of
clandestine operations and negotiations during WWII. 5 In his article, Schaller argues that:
“There exists, in fact, a body of evidence to suggest that in 1940-1941 influential American
officials worked closely with quasi-private individuals and special interest groups associated
with the Chinese Nationalist regime to develop at least two plans for clandestine military attack
on Japan.”6 Schaller uses this article to talk about two particular secret military operations that
were designed to attack Japan. Attacks being kept secret during WWII that, through his
research of American and Japanese records, and through interviews, Schaller is able to convey
that the untarnished reputation of the Flying Tigers that was universally recognized in the
1940s was starting to become more complicated and controversial in the 1970s.
5 Michael Schaller, “Air Strategy in China,1939-1941:The Origins of ClandestineAir Warfare,”American Quarterly
28, no. 1 (1976): 3–19.
6 Schaller,4.

5. 5
In the 1980s, the scholarship written was very similar to the works in the 1950s and
1960s commemorating the late Claire Chennault. The documents of the 1980s mostly serve as a
30-year commemoration of the passing of Claire Chennault, this time from a different
approach. The new technique used in the 1980s, and still used today, is called the Neo-
Conservative approach. This way of writing is very similar to that of the consensus method used
in the 1950s and 1960s, which is possibly why the works are so similar. This new neo-
conservative approach highlighted the good in the United States and showed the traditional
American values. An example of this would be Martha Byrd’s biography titled: Chennault:
Giving Wings to the Tiger.7 In this biography Byrd does a tremendous job of explaining the
contradictions of Chennault. A similar biography, With General Chennault: The Story of the
Flying Tigers, by Robert Hotz is particularly interesting because he interviews former members
of the Flying Tigers and they discuss what it was like to work under Claire Chennault as a
member of the AVG.8 An additional example of this is a book titled: A Flying Tiger’s Diary:
Centennial series of the Association of Former Students by Charles Bond and Terry Anderson
provides similar information to that of Martha Byrd’s biography.
In the 1990s, Robert van Patten wrote a magazine article in Air Force Magazine called
“Before the Flying Tigers.”9 This article is of relevance because it was used to convey a lot of
different information pertaining to the AVG in their humble beginnings. It includes the first
casualty, information about the Sino-Japanese war, the air war over China 10 years before
WWII, and valuable information on Claire Chennault. This article is more than likely written this
7 Martha Byrd, Chennault: Giving Wingsto the Tiger (Tuscaloosa,Alabama:University of Alabama Press,1987).
8 Robert Hotz, With General Chennault: The Story of the Flying Tigers in World War II, 1st ed. (New York City, New
York: Zenger Publishing,Incorporated,1980).
9 Robert Van Patten, “Before the FlyingTigers,” Air Force Magazine, Issueof June 1999, 72-77.

6. 6
way because the Flying Tigers were formed in 1941 when historians wrote with the consensus
technique. The neo-conservative approach, usually similar to the consensus, views history
practically the same way.
In the 2000s, the Flying Tigers are still written about in a neo-conservative approach. In
Daniel Ford’s 2007 work, Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-
1942, he is able to show that the American Volunteer Group bought victories from the Royal Air
Force of Britain (RAF) in order to share the bounties that were going to be handed out by the
Chinese government.10 With the Flying Tigers receiving $600 a month and $500 per enemy
plane shot down, the RAF would boost the Flying Tigers’ war statistics by giving them credit for
planes in exchange for a cut of the bounties. This book, showing that the pilots in the AVG
were very well compensated, depicts that the Flying Tigers’ motives may not have been as pure
as everyone had thought. Like Daniel Ford, Kenneth D. Rose’s book Myth and the Greatest
Generation: A Social History of Americans in World War II, published in 2008, discusses myths
about pilots at the time and World War II in general. 11 This book also argues that the idea of
the 1940s being a more heroic and patriotic time period in American history is a common
misconception. He argues that at this time in history nationalism, often a cause of war, made
the love for one’s country more prevalent than other time periods. Memoirs and reports are
used to debunk the statements about the 1940s being the most patriotic generation. It was
mainly patriotic because people at this point in time did not have the technology to see what
war was actually like overseas; people were unaware of the brutality.
10 Daniel Ford, Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 3rd ed. (Washington:Smithsonian Press,
2007).
11 Kenneth Rose, Myth and the Greatest Generation: A Social History or Americans in World War II (New York:
Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group,2008).

7. 7
The way in which historians have depicted the Flying Tigers has changed dramatically
from the 1940s to the early 2000s. The heroic, brave, and patriotic men of the 1940s were
considered more complex and controversial when being discussed in the 2000s. The different
approaches to writing about history—the change from the progressive/positivismapproach to
the postmodern/revisionist approach probably played the most pivotal role in the change. Of
course the Flying Tigers were heroes, but they are now considered complicated heroes of
controversy. Although they have a very complex and controversial past, the Flying Tigers did
win battles and managed to protect China. Their success can be attributed to the training their
men received, the types of men that joined the group, and the advances in military technology
at the time. Before discussing the success, of the Flying Tigers, it is imperative to discuss their
history and to provide the necessary, requisite information to understand just how successful
and heroic these men were.
World War II was a prime time for heroism. With much of the world at war, there were
many acts that can be construed as heroic and gallant. Despite countless acts of bravery,
sacrifice, and military smarts by many people and groups, there was no better example than
that of the Flying Tigers; the Flying Tigers or American Volunteer Group (AVG) were essential to
the aid of China in many ways. During the course of World War II, Japan began to put pressure
on China by attacking in hopes to gain new land and resources from the Chinese. The Chinese
government was aware that China had an immense air force, but was also aware of the fact
that Chinese soldiers did not have the proper training or equipment to hold off the Japanese. It
was for that very reason that the Chinese reached out to the United States to help enable them
to fight the Japanese and to protect the Chinese citizens and the Burma Road—the road that

8. 8
was required for their supply routes to the rest of the world. The United States requested Claire
Chennault to lead the aid in China and he accepted by retiring from active duty. In The Flying
Tigers, by John Toland, he states that Claire Chennault “was a former United States Air Corps
acrobatic flier and flying school director. After ten years’ service he had resigned his captaincy
in 1937, the year the Flying Tigers are said to have been created, to become a colonel, and the
foremost ace, in the Chinese air force.”12 This was a promotion in an unorthodox way. Although
he was being promoted to this new position in China, the position was kept secret because of
its operations and he had to retire from the United States Air Corps in order to accept. The
purpose for Chennault making the move was for him to spend time in China in order to observe
the Chinese air force and make suggestions to Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the First Lady of the
Republic of China at the time.
When Chiang realized that Chennault was making solid progress and started to show
promise as the leader of the Chinese Air Force by training the Chinese fighters and winning a
battle or two, she requested that President Franklin Roosevelt sign an executive order to
continue their aid to China. This executive order also officially created the Flying Tigers, with
United States service member’s aid. Chennault, who was in the United States recruiting for the
Flying Tigers and getting planes on the Chinese dime, soon realized that he would be the
commander of this group. The Chinese were paying for the planes, but the United States also
extended a loan of $100 million to potentially ease the bill.13 This executive order was never
found to be in document format but Daniel Ford describes it as the President’s style to agree to
12 John Toland, The Flying Tigers: The World War II exploits of America’s heroic fighter pilots in China, (New York
City, New York: Random House Books, 2014).
13 Schaller,8.

9. 9
things with a wink and a nod. Since the Japanese were at peace with the United States, it was
necessary to hide the aviation group. At that point, The Central Aircraft Manufacturing
Company (CAMCO) was created to cover up the United States’ dealing in China and to prevent a
war between Japan and the United States. However, all of that changed when Japan bombed
Pearl Harbor in 1941, coincidentally the same year the Flying Tigers were “officially” formed—
probably because the Flying Tigers did not have to hide their dealings in China from Japan
anymore.
When the Flying Tigers first saw battle in December of 1941, it was absolute
annihilation. The Flying Tigers wiped out 297 enemy planes and only lost 16 of their own.14 It is
crucial to understand this because it depicts their true dominance and the disgrace which they
faced down the road. After fighting over 50 battles, they never lost a single one. Eventually, in
1942 the Flying Tigers were shut down by high ranking officials in the United States. Sadly,
many of the men that fought in this group never got publically noticed or received any medals
or recognition of any kind. In addition, these men were forced to join the United States Army
Air Force and fly for the United States, not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, a lot of the men
stayed and worked in China with Chennault for a little while longer until Chennault was made
the head of the air force squadron these men belonged to. Although they were known as the
new 14th Air Force, they were still referred to as the Flying Tigers and even kept the tiger
insignia.15
14 Frank J. Olynyk, Victory List No. 4: AVG & USAAF (China-Burma-India Theater) Credits for the Destruction of
Enemy Aircraft in Air-to-Air Combat, World War II. Aurora, Ohio:1986.
15 J.R. Rossi,"A FlyingTigers Story by Dick Rossi,Pilot,” AVG: American Volunteer Group," 1998.

10. 10
SECTION 1: TYPES OF MEN
Guangqiu Xu published an article in the Journal of Contemporary History in which he
stated that “with only 200 men and 50 P-40s the AVG had become an object of admiration and
acclamation during its seven months of fighting in Burma, China, Thailand and French
Indochina.”16 He added that they destroyed 297 Japanese aircraft, yet only losing nine P-40s
and ten pilots. This miraculous feat is a prime example of the capabilities of the Flying Tigers,
despite being young and inexperienced. With the exception of a few volunteers, these men
were new members of the United States military who jumped at the opportunity to help win
the war and work under Claire Chennault because of his reputation. In order to be a Flying
Tiger, it took a special type of man.
Men who joined the Flying Tigers decided to leave their respective branches of the
United States military in order to fly planes over the Southwestern Pacific. To join the Flying
Tigers, the men had to cut ties with any American military because they would now be fighting
with Colonel Chennault under the Chinese flag. Since these men signed contracts as civilian
employees, they were to be paid directly by the Chinese government for their work. They were
not members of the United States military or the Chinese military; they were considered
contractors. A prime example of how the “contracting” worked is the contract signed by
Gregory Boyington to leave the United States Marine Corps. It states that “Immediately upon
acceptance of the resignation (from the U.S. Marine Corps) I will accept a position with the
16 Guanguiu Xu, "The Issueof US Air Support for China duringthe Second World War,1942-45."Journal of
Contemporary History 36, no. 3 (2001): 459-84.

11. 11
Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO.)”17 This contract shows first-hand accounts
of Boyington leaving the Marines and signing on to work as an individual contractor for a
“manufacturing company” known as CAMCO in the early days of August, 1941—the year the
Flying Tigers were created. In a different Marine Corps document, it states that CAMCO was “a
civilian organization formed for the protection of the Burma Road.” Later in the same contract
it states that “This organization (CAMCO) is now the much publicized and effective American
Volunteer Group. It is understood that Mr. Boyington is now a Squadron Commander with that
Group.”18 Serendipitously, CAMCO was a code name for the Flying Tigers early in their
existence, probably to hide their dealings when first working for China. Something else
particularly interesting about this document is that the Central Aircraft Manufacturing
Company was created by WilliamD. Pawley, who was a sales representative in China during the
1930s working for the Curtiss-Wright Aeroplane Company. From this, it seems as if the Flying
Tigers attempted to cover up these operations in China, but they must have failed because the
Flying Tigers became famous in the United States and throughout the world by the way they
saved the Chinese from the Japanese.
The Flying Tigers’ men were tough, crude, and cruel. As Riordan pointed out, the men
were mostly interested in liquor, sex, duties, and certain other activities.19 Their conversation
was peppered with racist and discriminatory language. For example, the Flying Tigers refer to
17 Resignation contractbetween Gregory Boyington and the United States MarineCorps, August 8, 1941,“Gregory
Boyington quits the MarineCorps,” (Pensacola,Florida:United States MarineCorps,1941) or
http://www.warbirdforum.com/boyingto.htm
18 Letter from R.J. Mitchell to the Commandant of the United States MarineCorps, April 23,1942, R.J. Mitchell,
“Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps,” (Washington:United States MarineCorps,1942) or
https://research.archives.gov/id/299736
19 Riordan,29.

12. 12
the Chinese as “little brown brothers.”20 Despite the talk of racism, the sexual connotations,
and even the alcohol, people still seemed to look up to these pilots because of their success,
not by the thought of them spending their time in night clubs. Although difficult to tell what the
men who fought in the Flying Tigers were like personally, it is less difficult to look at diary
excerpts of the pilots of the P-40s that fought in World War II. When referring to the American
Volunteer Group as a whole in his book Baa Baa Black Sheep, Col. Boyington described them as
being “people who drank like gentlemen and paid their gambling debts. Bravery above and
beyond the call of duty was dripping all over.”21 Even Boyington, who after spending minimal
time with them, could tell that these men were men who drank and gambled, yet were good
men eager to contribute to whatever it was their nation needed.
Primary source documents such as these diaries and autobiographies provide terrific
insight to the thoughts of the actual men who were participating in the war. In a diary written
home, the diction and emotion used suggest that the Flying Tigers fighting in the war were men
who understood the gravity of what it was they were doing and who they were trying to
protect. For example, a letter that Lew Bishop, a P-40 pilot for the Flying Tigers in World War II,
wrote conveys that he cared deeply for his family and would have liked nothing more than to
end the war and spend time with them. In his letter home he wrote: “I'mmighty glad to hear in
Marie's last letter mailed Nov. 12, that you were feeling better then and I'm sure you are
considerably better now. Please don't worry about me out here or worry too much about what
you read in the papers.”22 These were rough and tough men who were interesting in doing their
20 Riordan,30.
21 Gregory Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, (New York: Putnam Press,1958): 16.
22 Lewis S. Bishop and Shiela B. Irwin, Escape From Hell: An AVG Flying Tiger’s Journey, Columbus Press,2005.

13. 13
jobs to the best of their ability, but also men who had a soft spot for loved ones and this made
them the pilots/soldiers they were. They were attempting to protect the Chinese from the
Japanese and in doing so, end the war and get home to their families. With newspaper article
headlines, like that of the Manitowoc Herald-Times, reading “U.S. DECLARES WAR!” and sub-
headings that read “3,000 Killed And Wounded In Jap Attack on Honolulu,”23 parents of soldiers
must have been worried sick. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that this article is
discussing, the United States declared war, sending troops to assist in World War II. Parents of
people in Honolulu and parents of soldiers entering the war must have been nervous wrecks
after reading about their children going to war to fight the Japanese. However, as soldiers
understanding the need, they were eager to help the cause.
In addition to the soldiers, the American Volunteer Group was especially successful
because of the type of man their leader was. Despite being labeled a maverick, troublemaker,
and even a nuisance by some generals after crashing three planes in the first week of their
existence. His critics included general Joseph Stilwell, commander of Chinese nationalist forces,
George Marshall, army chief of staff, and Henry Arnold, army air corps chief.24 Still, Claire
Chennault was a great man and war tactician. Although some of the decisions that he made
were questionable to his superiors for being risky or dangerous, reference Michael Schaller’s
article, to the people who knew him he was viewed as one of the greatest military minds in the
history of the United States due to his ability to command his men to victory in every battle
they fought. Although only receiving the rank of major, he is referred to as “Colonel” because
23 “U.S. Declares War,”Manitowac herald-Times, December 8, 1941.
http://www.archives.com/genealogy/newspapers-pearl-harbor.html
24 Duane Schultz, The Maverick War: Chennault and the Flying Tigers (St. Martin’s Press,1990).

14. 14
he received over seventeen medals and his presence alone demanded respect. Chennault also,
because of this unbelievable streak of victories, received much praise from men such as
President Franklin D. Roosevelt who stated: “The outstanding gallantry and conspicuous daring
that the American Volunteer Group combined with their unbelievable efficiency is a source of
tremendous pride throughout the whole of America. The fact that they have labored under the
shortages and difficulties is keenly appreciated.”25 In the book Baa Baa Black Sheep, “Pappy”
Boyington stated that: “Chennault was in his fifties, a stern-appearing military man, and looked
as though he had been chiseled out of granite. This character had furrows and crow’s feet on
his granitelike face that I thought bottomless. Everyone addressed him as Colonel, I gathered
right off, and with genuine respect as far as I could see. Cheenault seemed to be a person who
commanded respect.”26
Being a member of the Flying Tigers himself, Boyington was one of these elite, brave
men and fought alongside the others, including Claire Chennault. He was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for his “extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty
as Commanding officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 214”27 later in life, following a
dishonorable discharge from the Flying Tigers just three months before his contract was up. He
received this dishonorable discharge for quitting the American Volunteer group. Had the group
not ended and more men been acknowledged for their achievements, there is no doubt that
more medals would have been awarded.
25 Daniel Ford, “A Brief History of the FlyingTigers,” Official Website of the AVG Flying Tigers Association, Accessed
November 11, 2016. http://www.flyingtigersavg.com/index.php/avg/history/28-history-of-the-flying-tigers
26 Boyington, 40.
27 Letter from President Franklin D.Roosevelt to Gregory Boyington, 1943-1944,“The President of the United
States takes pleasurein presenting the Congressional Medal of Honor to Major Gregory Boyington… ,”
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ghboying.htm

15. 15
SECTION 2: TRAINING
Although most of the men had never flown planes before, coming from the army or
navy, they were immediately put into advanced training following acceptance into the
American Volunteer Group. In a letter to the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Claire
Chennault wrote: “In telling the A.V.G. story to pilots who may think of volunteering, nothing
should be omitted. Far from merely defending the Burma road against unaccompanied
Japanese bombers, the A.V.G. will be called upon to combat Japanese pursuits; to fly at night;
and to undertake offensive missions when planes suitable for this purpose are sent out to us.
These points should be clearly explained.”28 Chennault’s honesty showed the kind of man who
would be leading the volunteers. Upon getting these men to sign up, he was very adamant
about telling them every inch of their contract to inform them of what they were getting in for.
He wanted to make sure that these men were accepting of all the terms and conditions of their
soon to be agreement. Once these men signed their contract, they were sent directly into
training.
Being trained by the best is one of the reasons the Flying Tigers were so successful in
battle. In Old Leatherface of the Flying Tigers: The Story of General Chennault, Keith Ayling
discussed Claire Chennault as being a great pilot as expected but also as being a terrific
instructor.29 Herbert Weaver, writing in the journal Military Affairs, observed that:
28 ClaireL. Chennault to Central AircraftManufacturingCo.,November 7, 1941,
http://www.warbirdforum.com/camco.htm
29 Keith Ayling, Old Leatherface of the Flying Tigers: The Story of General Chennault. (Indianapolis:Bobbs-Merrill,
1945).

16. 16
Few people knew then, or know today, of his thoroughness as an instructor, his writings
on the role of pursuit aviation, or his advanced ideas regarding the vast potentialities and
proper use of air power. His advocacy of formation flying, concentration of fire power, air
warning systems, air to air bombing, and use of aircraft to drop troops behind enemy
lines, marked him as a radical among conservative American military leaders but brought
him attractive offers from Soviet Russia and China as well as several large aircraft
manufacturing firms.30
Weaver also wrote that Chennault will go down in history as one of the foremost developers of
military aviation. In his mind, it is just a matter of time for this acknowledgment to take place.
Chennault’s training began immediately leading to the unit’s success. Upon signing on to
employment with the Flying Tigers, the soldiers were put into training. Although the types of
training are not exactly released to the public, there is reason to believe it was effective based
on the amount of bounties the Chinese government paid for Japanese planes shot down by
American pilots. The training the Flying Tigers received is more than likely kept in the dark to
keep the classified operations they participated in a secret. If these men were trained to do
certain things, there is a reason for doing them and those reasons could be part of some of
their clandestine or classified operations that no one knows anything about. It is a complex
situation being civilian contractors fighting under no country but being from one, helping out
another. Furthermore, these training exercises could have been kept secret at the time to
prevent the enemy from learning new fighting tactics from the Flying Tigers to use against them
in battle. Another reason their training was kept secret was because it did not last very long.
Being formed in the spring of 1941 and fighting their first battle in December of the same year,
there was not much time to train. These men had gone through military training at their
30 Ayling, 254-256.

17. 17
respective branches of the military; however, it was not until they joined the American
volunteer group that they learned to fly the way Chennault demanded: like Flying Tigers.
The only true information known about the Flying Tigers’ training is what has been
passed down through journals and diaries. In Chennault’s memoir, Way of a Fighter: The
Memoirs of Claire Lee Chennault, he stated:
Every pilot who arrived before September 15 got seventy-two hours of lectures in
addition to sixty hours of specialized flying. I gave the pilots a lesson in the geography
of Asia that they all needed badly, told them something of the war in China, and how
the Chinese air-raid warning net worked.
I taught them all I knew about the Japanese. Day after day there were lectures from
my notebooks, filled during the previous four years of combat. All of the bitter
experience from Nanking to Chunking was poured out in those lectures. Captured
Japanese flying and staff manuals, translated into English by the Chinese, served as
textbooks. From these manuals the American pilots learned more about Japanese
tactics than any single Japanese pilot ever knew.31
With seventy two hours of lectures and sixty of hours of specialized flying, it is safe to say that
most of these men were trained well, and more than likely tough.
SECTION 3: TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS
In addition to the types of men the Flying Tigers were and the training that they
received prior to entering combat, there were new technological advancements that they took
advantage of during World War II. Over 300,000 aircraft were produced in the United States
during World War II. Some of the common types include “Mustangs, Mitchells, Catalinas,
Liberators, and Corsairs.”32 The Flying Tigers did not fly these planes, however. The planes the
31 Daniel Ford, “A Brief History…”
32 "A History of WW2 in 25 Airplanes,"Air&Space Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.airspacemag.com/military-
aviation/history-ww2-25-airplanes-180954056/

18. 18
Flying Tigers flew were called P-40s and the Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawk and the Curtiss-
Wright P-40E Warhawk were the two variations the Flying Tigers used.33
The creators of the machinery used during World War II, the Curtiss-Wright Aeroplane
Company was a well-known establishment. The company was “established in August of 1929
with the merger of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and Wright Aeronautical.”34 At the
time Guy Vaughan, who became president in 1930, formed three divisions: the Airplane
Division for Military Aircraft, the Curtiss-Wright Airplane division for civil aircraft, and the
Wright Aeronautical for engines. The P-40B Tomahawk and the P-40E Warhawk naturally fell
into the division for military aircraft, while the Allison engine fell in the engine department.
Since P-40s were being created at this time and were readily available for the United States,
Claire Chennault was aggressive in collecting the necessary number of them for his men.
Availability and speed were exactly what Chennault needed and these were the planes for the
job since the Curtiss-Wright Corporation had also developed a new engine and had been
installing it in these P-40s.
The P-40B Tomahawk had “evolved from the Curtiss Model 75 Hawk.”35 This plane
was first to fly in November of 1941 and was originally created without self-sealing fuel tanks.
Self-sealing fuel tanks are crucial in battle. When being fired upon, this fuel tank will not leak or
even ignite when a bullet collides with the aircraft. The aircraft was originally built with two .50-
caliber cowl-mounted guns, along with two .30-caliber guns on the wings of the plane. Since the
33 Daniel Ford, “A Brief History…”
34 Judy Rumerman, “The Curtiss-WrightCorporation,”US Centennial of Flight Commission, Accessed November 18,
2016.http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Aerospace/Curtiss_wright/Aero9.htm
35 “P-40B Tomahawk,” National Naval Aviation Museum, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=p-40b_tomahawk

19. 19
Flying Tigers and the Royal Air Force had access to this new plane, each made their own
adjustments. When Claire Chennault first purchased these planes in the early 1940s, the Flying
Tigers immediately installed self-sealing fuel tanks, pilot armor, and two additional guns on the
wings. The RAF, however, installed six .303-caliber machine guns. This plane was exceptional for
the Flying Tigers and preferred by them over others because of the speed and agility, but the
RAF were not completely sold on the plane so they quit using them. The RAF used mainly
planes, as did every country, but the Supermarine Spitfire was used so much that is was
referred to as “the Royal Air Force fighter.”36
When the Flying Tigers formed in 1941, Chennault had already been working for the
Chinese since 1937. In that time he was training Chinese aviators in hopes of being able to help
them fend off the Japanese. Since the Japanese were flying older and slower Russian and Italian
aircraft, Chennault jumped at the opportunity to get his hands on American P-40s and since the
Chinese government was paying, there was not exactly a spending limit. China realized the
necessity for the planes and the American aviator’s help to fend off the Japanese. Finally,
Chennault purchased the aircraft and created the Flying Tigers to assist the Chinese, hiring
some men to do so.
The P-40B Tomahawk was also created by the Curtiss-Wright Aeroplane Company to
be a plane operated with one pilot; more importantly, it was created for the purpose of
fighting.37 The planes were 31 feet 8 inches in length, 12 feet 4 inches in height, and had a
36 Josh Aden, “The Most Important Fighter Planes of WWII,”ALL DAY, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://allday.com/post/323-the-most-important-fighter-planes-of-wwii/
37 “P-40B Tomahawk,” National Naval Aviation Museum, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=p-40b_tomahawk

20. 20
wingspan of 37 feet 4 inches. It weighed 5,590 pounds when empty and has a gross weight of
approximately 7,600 pounds with gas, bullets, crew member, etc.. The specifications of this
plane are impressive enough, but the performance of the plane was what Chennault was after.
This plane could reach a maximum speed of 352 miles per hour and could climb at 2,860 feet
per minute, while having a range of up to 730 miles. This was crucial for an aircraft because it
added to the altitude, speed, and distance of flight than the older planes, thus was a significant
improvement.
Something else especially interesting about this plane was the new engine that it
came equipped with: the Allison V-1710-33 in-line engine. According to the National Museum
of the United States Air Force, “the V-1710 engine was the product of an extensive Army
program to develop a high-power, liquid cooled engine.”38 39 At just $19,000, this 1,345 pound
engine was purchased and installed in most of the American planes of the war. The engine is a
12-cylinder supercharged motor that puts off a maximum horsepower of 1,325. However, in
certain models the engine could achieve 1,475 horsepower. It is very different from an engine
that most people have seen before since it is immense. It is 1,710 cubic inches and is absolutely
tremendous. During the war, these engines were installed in the P-40B Tomahawk, but
surprisingly they were more common in the Curtiss-Wright P-40E Warhawk.40
38 “Allison V-1710,”National Museum of the US Air Force, April 21,2015, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/196242/allison-
v-1710.aspx
39 Just to depict the magnitude of this project and also showhow serious the Chinese were about winningthe war,
it is importantto know how much one of these engines costs to gain a comprehension as to what the Chinese
spent.
40 “Allison V-1710,”National Museum of the US Air Force, April 21,2015,Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/196242/allison-
v-1710.aspx

21. 21
The Curtiss-Wright P-40E Warhawk was a plane that was also very common amongst
the Flying Tigers. There were 14,000 of them built during World War II. 41 Like the P-40B
Tomahawk, these planes were also built for the purpose of fighting and being flown by one
pilot. The single pilot fighter planes were an advantage because the second pilot took up space
that could be used for more fuel, more weapons, and created more weight for the plane that
affects handling, etc. The biggest difference is that this plane, also referred to as the Kittyhawk,
was built mainly for the use of the Royal Air Force. However, the Flying Tigers got their use out
of them as well. Being slightly faster than the P-40B Tomahawk, the P-40E Warhawk, or
Kittyhawk, can reach speeds of 362 miles per hour, 10 miles per hour faster. This is remarkable
because it weighs more, 9,100 pounds when fully loaded, which a common thought would be
that this would slow the plane down. Being 31 feet 9 inches in length, 12 feet 4 inches tall, and
having a wingspan of 37 feet 4 inches, this plane is very similar to that of the P-40B Tomahawk.
So why does it weigh so much more? This miraculous beast of a machine has six .50-caliber
machine guns in the wings and also carries a 700 pound external bomb. In many ways, the
success of the Flying Tigers could be attributed to the planes alone, since they leveled the
playing fields or skies when prior the Chinese were fighting one of the most incredible planes
ever created: the A6M Zero flown by the Japanese.42
Despite being different in a few ways, the aircraft that the Flying Tigers used were all
similar in one way: the paint. The Flying Tigers painted their fighter aircraft with a large shark
face in the front. This was done for looks and intimidation. After seeing a photograph of a P-40
41 “Curtiss P-40EWarhawk (Fighter),” Pacific Aviation Museum, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/P40E
42 Josh Aden, “The Most Important Fighter Planes of WWII,” ALL DAY, Accessed November 18, 2016.
http://allday.com/post/323-the-most-important-fighter-planes-of-wwii/

22. 22
belonging to Squadron No. 112 of the Royal Air Force painted, the Flying Tigers loved it and
decided to use the idea on all of their planes, with their own particular design.43 This art that
was created on the planes is commonly credited to Charles Bond and Erik Shilling in Bond’s
biography. He called this “nose art.” By definition nose art is the decoration of the fuselage of
an aircraft that is done with paint. There are many examples of nose art in the history of
aviation and war in general but none are as famous as that of the Flying Tigers. What is
interesting about this is that the Flying Tigers got it from the RAF, who got it from the Germans
and Italians who used to paint their planes in World War I.44 Since the United States Navy was
not permitted to use nose art, the Flying Tigers were definitely in luck that the Chinese did not
care. In addition to the Flying Tigers’ shark face on their planes, they had another very famous
marking: their insignia-a Bengal tiger with wings jumping through a “V-symbol”. This V stands
for victory and something else particularly interesting is the fact that this symbol insignia was
created by the Walt Disney Company.45
Even though the Flying Tigers had newer planes now, the Japanese still had fastest. In
the middle of the war, before the Flying Tigers/Chinese got their hands on the P-40s and were
still flying the inferior Italian and Russian planes, the Japanese developed a new plane known as
the Zero. This plane was faster and more maneuverable than the planes they had been using in
the beginning of the war.46 Victories were now starting to become trickier and more strategy
43 J. R. Rossi,"A FlyingTigers Story by Dick Rossi, Pilot,”1998.
44 Richard Ward,Sharkmouth, 1916-1945.New York: Arco, 1979.
45 Braxton Eisel,The Flying Tigers: Chennault's American Volunteer Group in China. Washington,D.C.: Air Force
History and Museums Program, 2009.
46Richard Wilcox,"The Zero: The firstfamed Japanesefighter captured intact reveals its secrets to U.S. Navy aerial
experts". Life, 4 November 1942.

23. 23
was needed to conduct battles. However, the Flying Tigers managed to find a way to succeed
like they had so many times before.
The Zero was a plane that was built in 1940 and “was made by Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, who is a shareholder of the Mitsubishi Motors Company that has cars driving all over
the world right now, and was first powered by a Nakajima Sakae radial air-cooled engine or 14
cylinders, two staggered rows of seven, that developed 1,020 horsepower. Later it used a
1,130-horsepower engine to turn its three-blade constant speed propeller.”47 This plane went
around 350 miles per hour at around 20,000 feet. The Zero was also a one pilot machine that
was a carrier aircraft that had “two 7.7-millimetre machine guns and two 20-millimetre
cannons in its wings; it could carry two 132-pound bombs under the wings.”48 In addition, the
wings were both one piece, rather than two connected together. This created a sturdy, more
maneuverable plane.49 This particular model of plane was used as kamikaze plane towards the
end of the war and was also the type of plane used to bomb Pearl Harbor. The planes were
mostly painted green with the red colored circle from the Japanese flag on the side just below
the cockpit.
In 1942, the great Flying Tigers were accused of lacking courage and fighting for the
sole purpose of collecting bounties. For that reason, General Clayton Bissel of the Army Air
Force (AAF) threatened the pilots by telling them they better join the AAF or “they would
probably find their draft boards waiting for them when they stepped off the boat that carried
47 Kennedy Hickman, “World War II:Mitsubishi A6MZero,” About Education, August 29, 2016,Accessed November
18, 2016.http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/militaryaircraft/p/a6mzero.htm
48 Hickman,http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/militaryaircraft/p/a6mzero.htm
49 Richard Wilcox,“The Zero: The firstfamed Japanese fighter captured intactreveals its secrets to U.S. Navy aerial
experts,” Life, November 4, 1942: 86.

24. 24
them back to the United States. In that case, they would of course be inducted as privates
rather than commissioned as officers.”50 It is possible that Bissel just wanted the Flying Tigers,
the best fighters of the time, to fight for their country, and not China. Surely pilots of this
caliber could help the United States Air Force in some way. The Flying Tigers had no control
over what would happen next. They were dismantled and became the 23rd Fighter Group as
part of the U.S. 14th Air Force under the command of General Chennault.
The Flying Tigers were victorious in every battle they ever fought. It is easy to say that
they were the best fighters at the time. However, it is important to take a step back and ask the
question: “Why?” The answer to this question cannot be answered without mentioning the
types of men these individuals were, the training they received from their great leader (Col.
Claire Chennault), and the advancements in technology. Of course these factors are not the
only reason for their success, but they are for sure among the greatest contributions to it.
When the war was over Chennault wrote in his autobiography:
"The group had whipped the Japanese Air Force in more than 50 air battles without a
single defeat. With the R.A.F. it had kept the port of Rangoon and the Burma Road
open for 2 1/2 precious months while supplies trickled into China. With less than one-
third of its combat strength it saved China from final collapse on the Salween. Its
reputation alone was sufficient to keep Japanese bombers away from Chunking. It
freed the cities of East China from years of terror bombing and finally gave both
Chinese and American morale an incalculable boost at a time when it was sagging
dangerously low. All this cost the Chinese $8,000,000 - about $3,000,000 in salaries
and personnel expenses and $5,000,000 for planes and equipment. After the final
accounting was made, I wrote Dr. Soong my regrets that expenses had exceeded my
original estimates.
"He replied, 'The A.V.G. was the soundest investment China ever made. I am ashamed
that you should even consider the cost'."51
50 Robert L. Scott, God Is My Co Pilot. (Reynoldsburg,Ohio: Buckeye Aviation Book Co, 1989).
51 Daniel Ford, “A Brief History…”

25. 25
For China, the finances did not matter because the success of the Flying Tigers alone was
enough to make the cost a non-factor. After managing to keep China safe from the Japanese,
they went down as one of the greatest aviation groups in history with arguably the best leader
to come out of World War II. The success these men had can be attributed to these three things
but they cannot only be attributed to them. There are many reasons why the Flying Tigers were
successful, and it is a shame that no one knows about them. It is sickening that the Flying Tigers
were dismantled following their tremendous achievements. What is even worse is the fact that
most of these heroes were not granted accolades or awards of any kind. There was a much
better way for the group to be handled. These men should have been granted medals and
perhaps allowed to remain the Flying Tigers and to fight for Chennault as part of the United
States Army Air Force. For the amount of success these men had, they deserved a lot better
than what had happened to them.
General Claire Chennault “died of lung cancer on July 27, 1958. As if to symbolize his
dual loyalty, his grave is the only one at Arlington National Cemetery to bear a Chinese
inscription, and the bust of him in Taipei is the only statue of a westerner to grace the
Taiwanese capital.”52
52 "FlyingTigers / ClaireLee Chennault." FlyingTigers / ClaireLee Chennault. Accessed October 28, 2016.
http://www.warbirdforum.com/clc.htm.

26. 26
“For a time, the Flying Tigers provided the only victories against the Japanese anywhere in the
Far East… This handful of men had shown that the Japanese were not invincible.”
-Duane P. Schultz53
53 Duane P. Schultzis an author of history works,collegelevel textbooks, two novels,and seven non-fiction works.
Several of these works pertain to World War II,in which he discusses theFlyingTigers.Receiving his
undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University,a master’s degree from SyracuseUniversity,and a PhD from
American University,he decided to be a professor at Mary Washington College.

27. 27
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