![]() “Luke” Wiliamson, the ‘Three Men on a Flying Trapeze.’ (Bettmann/Getty Images) Peking and Shanghai quickly succumbed during ruthless attacks on strategic military targets and civilian population centers. The carnage continued as the Japanese swept nearly unopposed across the fertile agricultural plains of eastern China. The world’s three great powers-the United States, Britain and France-tried to influence the Japanese through diplomatic dialogue, efforts that had little effect on Japan and largely failed to muster any interest from other nations. Torn by many years of civil war and battles between warlords, the Chinese found it beyond their power to halt the Japanese aggression, which escalated in the following years. The battle for China officially began in 1931, when a resource-depleted Japan took advantage of an opportunity to invade Manchuria. These, in the day when heaven was falling, To him it was clear that paid soldiers could play a vital role in aerial combat, and in his attempts to sell his sometimes radical ideas to military officials he frequently quoted lines from ‘Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries,’ his favorite A.E. Navy, Marine and Army Air Corps pilots who quietly entered China posing as artists and missionaries-Chennault established his own version of an ideal mercenary band. In creating his legendary group of airmen-composed of former U.S. Chennault was a unique individual who could inspire great accomplishments from all those who served under him. Chennault, whose genius for leadership in the face of overwhelming odds made him a hero in the United States as well as in China. ![]() In just seven months of intense aerial combat, the AVG earned a lasting niche in aviation history, reportedly destroying nearly 300 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only 69 planes.Įqually famous is their brilliant and controversial commander, Claire L. The nickname was bestowed by the grateful Chinese after the American pilots attacked a large number of Japanese fighters over Kunming on December 20, 1941. The handful of American mercenaries who scorched earth and sky in defense of China were officially known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), but, of course, are best remembered as the ‘Flying Tigers’-the English translation of Fei Hou. ![]()
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