" In the twelve months centered around the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, a diverse group of American and British flyers fought
one of the most remarkable air campaigns of WWII. Pilots including
Claire Chennault, ""Pappy"" Boyington, and Art Donahue bought time
for an Allied regrouping against Japan's relentless assault in the
China-Burma-India theater. In the face of the 1941 bombings, Chiang
Kai-shek turned to air power to survive, which he did thanks to
Chennault's rebuilding of the Chinese Air Force and the leadership
of the American Volunteer Group, or AVG. Formed by Chennault, the
AVG, also known as the Flying Tigers, were contract employees
working for the Chinese government. As a result, they received
virtually no official American recognition for their efforts. The
group was known for their romantic, reckless spirit. They performed
remarkably with outdated planes and equipment in ill-repair, were
almost always heavily outnumbered in battle, and were seen by
outsiders as hard-drinking rebels. Whatever their image, the Flying
Tigers were highly effective. In the words of Air Force Major
General Charlie Bond, ""During that first week of action the AVG
destroyed fifty-five enemy bombers and fighters while losing only
five Tomahawks. Unfortunately, two of our colleagues were killed,
but at the same time two hundred enemy airmen were either killed or
captured. We were shattering the myth that the Japanese Air Force
was invincible."" Jerome Klinkowitz, whose earlier books focused on
flyers' attitudes toward the air war in Britain and Europe,
continues his work with an exceptionally interesting group of
Pacific warriors. He brings together not only the commanders'
stories but the often more colorful--and sometimes more
accurate--accounts of life and battle by the men who flew these
planes and the women who participated on the ground.
General
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