The Flying Tigers

The Flying Tigers won fame in the skies over Burma and China during World War II after Claire Lee Chennault, a retired Army Air Corps captain and air advisor to China, organized the American Volunteer Group in early 1941 to defend the Burma Road, China’s lifeline. Flying P-40 Warhawks, the group achieved an unequalled air combat record, destroying 299 enemy planes in the air while losing 12 of their own, and the Chinese gave them the name Flying Tigers in tribute to their daring and skill. When the American Volunteer Group was disbanded on July 4, 1942, it became the nucleus of the Army Air Corps’ Air Task Force, using its planes, equipment, and some personnel, and on March 10, 1943, the China Air Task Force became the 14th Air Force. Promoted to major general, Chennault commanded the Flying Tigers from their beginning until July 1945 and later rose to lieutenant general. As the war continued, newer fighter planes replaced the P-40 and medium and heavy bombers were added to the Allied air fleets in China. In more than three years of operations, the United States 14th Air Force lost 500 planes from all combat causes while destroying 2600 enemy planes and probably 1500 more, sank and damaged 2,230,000 tons of enemy merchant shipping, 44 naval vessels, and 13,000 river boats, knocked out 573 bridges, and destroyed thousands of tons of supplies and many thousands of enemy troops. In China, a Ching Pao air raid warning system used a telephone network of volunteer spotters to report approaching enemy aircraft; when planes were spotted 150 miles away, a first red ball was raised on a tall pole, a gong sounded, and fighters were alerted for takeoff, at 100 miles two balls were raised, and a third ball signaled urgent shelter, with candles placed inside the balls at night.

Riverside, Ohio · United States