Honestly I don't know why I was so shocked when I saw this article in the paper today. Pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. Sculpture in China honors U.S. Flying Tigers of WWII March 23, 2005 BEIJING -- China has erected a memorial to the Flying Tigers, a band of U.S. fighter pilots who defended China against Japan during World War II, the government said Tuesday. The sculpture wall was erected in Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, where the Tigers maintained their planes, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing memorial designer Yu Chuan. Construction of the memorial was timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, Xinhua said. Local officials hope it can become a major tourist attraction. The Tigers were a volunteer band of U.S. military men sent in secret to Asia by President Franklin D. Roosevelt before the United States entered World War II. They joined an air force organized for China by Claire Lee Chennault, a retired U.S. Army colonel. The memorial, measuring 13 feet tall and 490 feet wide, features a sculpture of Chennault and scenes of the Tigers' victories and their cooperation with local Chinese, Xinhua said. The Flying Tigers had fewer than 100 pilots and 55 planes. They flew for only nine months, until U.S. forces arrived in China in May 1942 and absorbed the unit. The Tigers have become a potent symbol of Chinese-U.S. unity, and communist authorities readily overlook the fact that they fought for the leftists' bitter enemies -- the Nationalists who ruled China in the 1930s and '40s. AP
I just now noticed this post. It is surprising that they would put up a sculpture at this point in time. Most of them are probably dead by now. Do you know of any books that give a "balanced" view of the Flying Tigers ? All the stuff I read on them make them out superheros but if they were so good why were they discontinued ? The PR on them is really good but is it true do you think ? I know I would not want to take on a Zero or Oscar in a P-40.
I believe that David Lee "Tex" Hill is still alive, he was in 2003. I know that Witold Urbanowicz died years ago.
Yes Mr "Tex" Hill is still alive. And for the Doubting Thomas, Mr Ta 152....yes they were that good...they kicked some jap @ss...
From what I have read about the Flying Tigers they were effective enough, in the limited numbers that they could put up in the air as compared to the Japanese, so long as they stuck to Chennaults tactics. Attack from above, and never try to outturn or climb with a Zero or Oscar. There is currently an article in WWII History Magazine that profiles a young Navy flyer who signed on with the AVG and it provides a figure for the number of Japanese planes that the Tigers accounted for as compared to their losses in combat. And I was frankly shocked not so much as to how many Japanese planes they accounted for but more as to how few pilots the AVG lost during that time frame. As I am not home right now I can not provide the exact numbers but I will be able to get them for you within the next day or so.
Ok, the magazine was the May 2005 edition of World War II and the article was titled "A Flying Tiger's War". This article gives a brief overview of the war service of Peter Wright who resigned his commission in the US Navy when he was an ensign serving on the aircraft carrier Yorktown when he was recruited in June of 1941. The figures given by the article claim that the AVG shot down 297 aircraft while losing only 7 pilots themselves. The only book in my personal library that I have read is "A Flying Tiger's Diary" by Charles Bond Major Gen. (ret) USAF. and Terry Anderson Briefly looking at the book again it's claim on enemy planes shot down list 299 as confirmed which is pretty much in line with the 297 listed in the article mentioned before. Bond also lists that a suprisingly low number of only 10 AVG pilots were lost due to combat and gose on to mention that the AVG never had more 70 trained pilots or 49 planes ready for combat at any time during their time in China.
Thanks for the informatin Bill. I guess there was alot of politics or something going on to not continue Gen. Chennault's tactics in the US armed forces. No one else had a 42 to 1 kill ratio during the war in the Pacific. I guess that is what I meant to ask in the first place, If it was such an effetive group why was it discontinued and the tactics not used anymore.
Another point that this article does indeed mention is Chennaults changing to a two plane formation of lead and wingman from the, at that time, traditional 3 plane formation of lead and 2 wigmen. This would be a tactic that the US Navy would adopt before the end of the war.
I met Tex Hill at an air show in Wisconsin. He just passed away this last year. Nice fellow. --marksman
The "Flying Tigers" weren't discontinued they were just reabsorbed into the US military. I've seen nothing to indicate their tactics weren't continued.
Some of the Flying Tigers were absorbed into the USAAF, but most went back to their original units or service they were recruited from. One reason for the Flying Tigers demise was that the brass of the USAAF did not want a group of flying mercenaries in their sector, although technically the Tigers were in the Chinese Air Force. Another reason is that General Stilwell and General Chennault did not see eye to eye on anything except the need for the prosecution of the war against Japan.
