![]() The AVG's base was in Kunming in southwestern China, far from areas under Japanese occupation. During World War II, this long windy road from Burma through the mountains was essential to keeping China supplied. And with an ex-wife, three kids, debts and my lifestyle, I really needed the work." Burma was central to keeping China suppliedĬhinese laborers working to repair the Burma Road in southwest China, circa 1944. Pilot Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, who would go on to receive the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross, told Aviation History Magazine in the 1980s: "I resigned my commission and accepted the job with the AVG in September 1941, since rank was slow in coming and I needed the money. Calloway thinks many stayed to help with the "desperate situation" in China. Those who traveled had various motivations - a change of scenery or a chance to show their skills in combat. About a dozen of them were Chinese Americans, says Yue-him Tam, a Macalester College history professor who studies China and Japan. So in summer and fall of 1941, 99 pilots - 59 from the Navy, seven Marines, and 33 from the Army - traveled to Asia, along with about 200 support crew, according to the DOD's history. To make recruitment easier, pilots and mechanics were offered pay that was often more than double what they were making before. government could retain a façade of neutrality, while helping China against the Japanese," the Department of Defense's history of the Flying Tigers explained. "By using Chinese funds to buy the aircraft and supplies and pay the salaries of the proposed crews, the U.S. History My dad witnessed the horror of Pearl Harbor firsthand. This was mid-1941 - before Pearl Harbor and before the U.S. military and go to China as mercenaries, basically, because it was against the international rules for any American military person to be involved in the conflict over there," Jobe tells NPR. "He managed to get Roosevelt to allow some of our military pilots - that was the original AVG - to resign their commissions in the U.S. Soong, a Chinese official who was also Chiang's brother-in-law, a deal was worked out to allow China to buy 100 American-made Curtiss P-40 fighter planes.Īs for who would fly and maintain them, many of the pilots in China's existing air force were poorly trained. But President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was concerned about the prospect of Japan defeating China and turning its sights on the U.S.Ĭhennault traveled back to the U.S., pulling what strings he could to get planes. The Sino-Japanese warĬlaire Lee Chennault first went to China to survey the Chinese Air Force's readiness, and stayed on to lead the creation of the American Volunteer Group.īy 1940, after losing backing from the Soviets, China desperately needed more planes. On the 80th anniversary of their first combat, here's an abbreviated history of how Americans ended up fighting for China. "The AVG was a bright spot in history when everything was bleak and black, and they have received a lot of recognition for that," says Larry Jobe, president of the Flying Tiger Historical Organization. Their victories came when Japan seemed unstoppable. Though only in combat for less than seven months, the group became famous at the time for its ability to inflict outsize damage on Japan's better-equipped and larger aircraft fleet. They were called the American Volunteer Group and later became known as the Flying Tigers. Their mission was unusual: They were mercenaries hired by China to fight against Japan. The group was notable for its unusual mission: Its members were mercenaries hired by China to fight against Japan.Įighty years ago this week, a small group of American aviators fought in their first battle in World War II. Pilots from the American Volunteer Group sit in front of a P-40 airplane in Kunming, China, on March 27, 1942.
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