Flying Tigers: The American Heroes Who Saved China During WWII – Earning Up to $16,725 Monthly with Shark-Mouthed Airplanes

In 1941, an unprecedented opportunity presented itself to American pilots, mechanics, and support personnel: a one-year contract with China to fly, repair, and maintain aircraft, earning up to $16,725 per month with 30 days of annual leave, housing provided, and a food allowance of $700 monthly. Additionally, there was a significant bonus for the destruction of Japanese aircraft – an extra $11,000 per plane, with no limit.

These individuals became members of a renowned group known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), later famously known as the Flying Tigers. The group’s warplanes bore a striking symbol – a gaping shark mouth on their noses – a testament to their fearsome reputation, still recognized in some US military aircraft today.

Their success in combat was equally impressive; the Flying Tigers are credited with destroying as many as 497 Japanese planes while losing only 73. This legendary group remains revered in China, despite contemporary tensions between the two nations.

In a poignant gesture, the daughters and granddaughter of the Flying Tigers’ founder were among the select few Americans invited to attend a military parade in Beijing commemorating the end of World War II. This bond was forged during a critical period when China, invaded by Imperial Japan, struggled to withstand its better-equipped and unified adversary. Japan held near-absolute control over Chinese skies, bombing cities at will.

Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of China who had managed to loosely unite the warlords under a central government, recruited American Claire Chennault, a retired US Army captain, to form an air force. Chennault initially focused on establishing an air raid warning network and building airbases across China. In 1940, he was dispatched to the United States to secure pilots and planes capable of defending China against Japan.

Chennault leveraged his connections within the administration of US President Franklin Roosevelt and a budget that could pay Americans three times their military earnings to acquire the necessary personnel and equipment. A deal was secured to redirect 100 Curtiss P-40B fighters built for Britain to China instead.

However, these aircraft lacked a modern gun sight, requiring Chennault’s pilots to aim manually. Chennault compensated by implementing unique tactics, having his pilots dive from high positions and unleash their heavy machine guns on the structurally weaker but more agile Japanese planes. In a low, twisting dogfight, the P-40 would lose.

The pilots recruited by Chennault were far from elite. Ninety-nine fliers and support personnel journeyed to China in the fall of 1941. Some were fresh out of flight school, others flew cumbersome flying boats or served as ferry pilots for large bombers. They joined the Far East adventure primarily for lucrative pay or due to boredom with their previous roles.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, Chennault had to train his team from scratch, both in becoming fighter pilots and working cohesively. Training was rigorous and dangerous; three pilots were killed early on in accidents, while eight P-40s were damaged during one training day due to rough landings or fast ground taxiing causing collisions.

The Flying Tigers’ first combat mission took place against Japanese bombers attacking the AVG base in Kunming, China, on December 20, 1941. Chennault expressed disappointment at his group’s perceived lack of discipline during this mission, as they pursued near-impossible shots and narrowly avoided collisions or friendly fire. Nevertheless, they managed to shoot down three Japanese bombers while losing only one fighter that ran out of fuel and crash-landed.

The pilots quickly overcame their steep learning curve. A few days later, they were deployed to Rangoon, the capital of British colonial Burma and a crucial supply line for allied war materiel destined for Chinese troops facing the Japanese army. Japanese bombers targeted Rangoon in waves during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, but the Flying Tigers disrupted their formations, cementing their reputation.

The AVG officially claimed 75 enemy aircraft downed with an undetermined number of probable kills during their tenure in Rangoon, which lasted a total of ten weeks and never fielded more than 25 P-40s. During this time, they engaged a thousand-odd Japanese aircraft over Southern Burma and Thailand, destroying 217 enemy planes and probably another 43. The AVG suffered four pilots killed in air combat, one pilot killed while strafing, and one taken prisoner, while losing sixteen P-40s.

Despite their heroics, allied ground forces in Burma were unable to hold off the Japanese. Rangoon fell in March, forcing the AVG to retreat north into Burma’s interior. However, they had bought vital time for the allied war effort, tying down Japanese planes that could have been used elsewhere in China and the Pacific.

The Flying Tigers continued their aerial assault on Japan through the spring of 1942, striking ground targets and aircraft from China to Burma to Vietnam. Yet, it was clear that the group’s days were numbered. The AVG flew its last mission on July 4, 1942 – the same day it would cease to exist.

Four Flying Tiger P-40s faced off against a dozen Japanese fighters over Hengyang, China. The Americans shot down six of the Japanese with no losses of their own. Despite strained relations with Washington in recent years, the bond forged between American mercenaries and China 80 years ago remains strong.

There are at least half a dozen museums dedicated to or containing exhibits about the Flying Tigers in China, and they have been the subject of contemporary movies and cartoons. The Flying Tiger Heritage Park is located on the site of an old airfield in Guilin where Chennault once commanded from a cave.

In the United States, the website for the Louisiana museum that bears Chennault’s name encapsulates what he hoped his legacy would be: “It is my fondest hope that the sign of the Flying Tiger will remain aloft just as long as it is needed and that it will always be remembered on both shores of the Pacific as the symbol of two great peoples working toward a common goal in war and peace.”