Posted on 09/09/2001 9:37:31 PM PDT by super175
They were the model of US-Chinese friendship - the Flying Tigers, young American pilots who fought for China in World War II.
Three of the legendary fliers have returned to China in the last few days to mark the 60th anniversary of their ragtag volunteer force, telling war stories at a government-sponsored conference and meeting Chinese veterans in an air of nostalgic camaraderie.
The evocation of wartime solidarity could hardly be better timed, or its warmth more welcome. After months of tension with Washington over a spy-plane collision, the jailing of scholars and other conflicts, Beijing is eager for a friendlier tone and an upbeat visit in October by President George W. Bush.
"I felt the Chinese have been our friends all these years. I hate to see the antagonism we've been going through," said Bob "Catfish" Raine, 83, a former Flying Tiger credited with shooting down four Japanese fighters.
This week marks the anniversary of the Tigers' debut in September 1941. The pilots were US military men, many fresh from training, sent in secret by president Franklin D. Roosevelt before the United States entered the war.
They joined an air force organised for China by Claire Lee Chennault, a retired US Army colonel.
The Flying Tigers had fewer than 100 pilots and 55 planes. They flew for only nine months, until - after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the American entry into the war - US forces arrived in China in May 1942, and absorbed the unit.
But so potent are the Tigers as a symbol of Chinese-US unity that communist authorities readily overlook the fact they fought for the leftists' bitter enemies - the Kuomintang, who ruled China in the 1930s and '40s.
"The Flying Tigers supported the anti-Japanese war," said General Wang Dinglie, a retired octogenarian veteran of World War II and the 1949 revolution.
Such sentiments resonate with the Chinese military and Government. They keep alive the war and questions of Japanese guilt, despite Japan's status as the country's biggest trading partner and foreign aid donor.
The conference took place at the Memorial Hall of the War Against Japanese Aggression, which houses displays on Japanese wartime atrocities.
When the Tigers arrived 60 years ago, Japanese bombers were pounding undefended cities. Japanese forces had captured Shanghai and other coastal cities, forcing the Kuomintang government to take refuge in the southwestern city of Kunming.
The US air force credits the Tigers with shooting down 286 Japanese planes, while losing just 12 of their own pilots.
"We were young and inexperienced and thought we were invulnerable," said Mr Raine.
The 14 surviving Tigers pilots are helping to raise money for the recovery of a Flying Tigers plane that crashed in a lake in southwestern China, killing its pilot.
They also hope to use the connection to improve Chinese-American relations, said its executive director, Jeffrey Greene.
"It would be wonderful if the Flying Tigers could be the tool to rekindle the spirit that we enjoyed 60 years ago," said Erik Skilling, 85, who lives in California.
I'd be interested inlearning if any of the many fomer AVG support personnel living on Taiwan have been allowed to take part in any of these festivities.
I am not sure Scott was technically a Flying Tiger although I know he flew with them before they switched over to the Army Air Corps.
Talk about Charisma! this guy, who must have been near 90, had it in spades. He was really a nice guy, answering questions, kidding around and just plain being enjoyable to be with.
Yesterday, I was just scanning the TV when I noticed the movie "God is My Co-Pilot" was on. I turned it on and watched the last half. At the end the announcer said Scott was still alive although (I think) 93 years old.
What a generation of heroes we produced. Compare them to Clintons companions and their protests etc.
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