USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ FlashBack Friday ~ March 14 2003

Friends of The Canteen

[SAMWolf]

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By remembering and paying tribute to the military past of our country,
we are paying tribute to those who are serving our country today.

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General Claire Chennault & "The Flying Tigers"

The Flying Tigers were a group of American fighter pilots that flew for China in the early part of 1942. Led by a controversial American, Colonel Claire Chennault, they were actually called the "American Volunteer Group" (AVG), and achieved good success in their aerial battles against the Japanese.

They were a relatively small group of pilots, and never had more than 100 Curtis Warhawk P-40's (decorated with the famous red shark mouth) available. But at the time they were flying (early 1942), they were the only Americans doing ANYTHING against the Axis. With an American public reeling from Pearl Harbor and anxious to strike back "NOW!" the Flying Tigers were "the only game in town" at that point. Thus they received a lot of favorable press coverage, from reporters anxious to write about the only only Americans doing ANYTHING ANYWHERE against the Japanese.

The Flying Tigers comprised three squadrons:

1st Squadron - "Adam and Eves"
2nd Squadron - "Panda Bears"
3rd Squadron - "Hell's Angels"

The top aces of the Flying Tigers were: David Lee "Tex" Hill, Robert Neale, and Chuck Older. James Howard flew with the AVG; he later earned the Congressional Medal of Honor while flying P-51s for the 354th Fighter Group (Ninth Air Force) in Europe. Pappy Boyington was another Tiger who went on to greater fame; he had a falling out with Chennault, who gave him a Dishonorable Discharge. The mercurial Boyington never forgave him.



"Colonel" Claire Lee Chennault had been in China since the mid-Thirties; he called himself "Colonel," though his highest rank had been Major. An outspoken advocate of "pursuit" (as fighter planes were called then), in an Army Air Force dominated by strategic bomber theorists, he alienated many of his superiors. But in China, equipped with P-40's, he developed the basic fighter tactics that American pilots would use throughout the war. The Japanese planes used over China were much more maneuverable than his Warhawks, whose advantages were: speed in a dive, superior firepower, and better ability to absorb battle damage. Chennault worked out and documented the appropriate tactics that capitalized on the relative strengths of the American fighters: intercept, make a diving pass, avoid dogfighting, and dive away when in trouble. This remained the fundamental U.S. fighter doctrine throughout the Pacific War. My appreciation of the pilot's bravery and Chennault's tactical skills, however, doesn't change my assessment of the unfortunate and perhaps distracting role they played. The Chinese politics and Chinese-American relations at the time were quite complicated. The titular leader of China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai Chek, of the Kuomintang, was engaged in an endless three-way war: his Kuomintang vs. Mao's Communists vs. Japan. And his own power within the Kuomintang was dependent on balancing various warlords, cliques, and factions. Given the understandable problems posed by this situation, he always wanted more and more American aid, which he and his generals then wanted to use against internal enemies as well as Japan, or perhaps, not to use at all, but to hoard as symbols of their power.

General Chennault, got the Generalissimo's ear, and persuaded him that air power could sweep the Japanese from China, almost effortlessly and painlessly, just a few score American B-17 bombers would do the trick. Thus Chiang Kai Chek, General Chennault, Madame Chiang Kai Chek, and the powerful China Lobby used their combined influence with the American government to push Chennault's air power scheme.



Unfortunately, the adressing real issues in Nationalist China -- development of democratic or at least stable institutions, the rooting out of corruption in the Kuomintang, the training and deployment of useful Chinese infantry forces against Japan, improving the life of the ordinary villagers, etc. -- had no priority with the Generalissimo. Chennault's proposals seemed to offer such a promising way out.

The American government had its own problems, and couldn't scrape up the numbers of bombers envisioned. But keeping China in the war against Japan was understood to be in America's strategic interest (even before Pearl Harbor). What could be offered to Chiang was about 100 Curtis P-40 Warhawk fighter planes with volunteer military pilots to fly them. They fought with distinction, largely in the defense of Burma, and were absorbed into the United States Army Air Force's 23rd Fighter Group in July, 1942.

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"A nation that forgets its past has no future."
Sir Winston Churchill

"Those Who Have Long Enjoyed Such Privileges As We Enjoy, Forget In Time that Men Have Died To Win Them."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

[Dubya]

BTW will the USCG help just anyone?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"BTW will the USCG help just anyone?"

Yes, anyone who needs help on the water.
However in some areas where there is a private, commercial, towing service,
they are required to let the commercial tow assist 1st.
HOWEVER as soon as it becomes a matter of distress,
not just an assist the Coast Guard handles.
The Coast Guard does not charge for help.

[LaDivaLoca]

THANK YOU, Sam, for another AWESOME thread! This is a very interesting piece of history.

[LaDivaLoca]

[American Preservative]

To our Military -

Thank you for protecting US. Sleep well and safe. May you be protected. May your families' hearts be at ease.

[Dubya]

Thanks Tonk. Will info help us a lot.

[snippy_about_it]

Good evening LDL! How are you?

[Dubya]

I was trying to get my seventh-grade history class to understand how the
Indians must have felt when they first encountered the Spanish explorers.

"How would you feel," I asked, "if someone showed up on your doorstep who
looked very different, spoke a strange language and wore unusual clothes?
Wouldn't you be a bit scared?"

"Nah," one boy answered, "I'd just figure it was my sister's date."

[Dubya]

A nun stepped out of the doctor's office, saying her rosary rather loudly as
she hurried down the hospital corridor.

Another doctor witnessed this, and went to ask her doctor about it.

"Hey, what happened? The nun ran out of her praying her rosary as though it
were the end of the world!"

"Oh, I just told her she was pregnant." The first doctor replied.

"Oh my! Is she?"

"No, but it sure cured her hiccups!"

[American Preservative]

FREEPTIME CCC! : ) LOL! : )

[LaDivaLoca]

THANK YOU, Sam, for our regular Military News!

To our Heroes, THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM!

[fatima]

Hi snippy_about_it,how are you,

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

[Soaring Feather]

Thank you Military Men and Canteen men for the lovely warm fire and den.

[LaDivaLoca]

I'm good and snacking away.

And how are you two doing this fine warmer Friday?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Welcome Home Tonkin"

I've been home all day! LOL

[LaDivaLoca]

As the President, you must decide: Do you stay up late
on the night of the impact to watch the coverage live, or tape it
and watch it in the morning?

LOL!

[Soaring Feather]

Could not prove it by me!! ROTFLOL!

[LaDivaLoca]

BREAKING NEWS

LOL! The Frenchies had no idea what they had started - CLUELESS!!!

[LaDivaLoca]

Hiya, MnM! I love those M&M commercials.