Flying Tigers
The Flying Tigers was a group of American fighter pilots from the United States Army Air Force, the United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps. Claire Lee Chennault commanded it.
History
During 1937, Claire Lee Chennault retired from the American military and became the military advisor to China. He to looked at their air force. It was bad, and could not fight their enemy, Japan. In 1938, Chennault was going to make the Flying Tigers. In late 1941, after Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers started fighting the Japanese.[1]
The airplane they used was the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. There were about 100 of the fighter aircraft. They could not turn with the Japanese fighters, such as the A6M Zero, Ki-43 Oscar, and Ki-27 Nate, but the P-40 was tough, had more guns, and was faster in a dive.[2]
The Flying Tigers stayed in World War II for the whole time.[1]
Things the Flying Tigers were famous for
The Flying Tigers are well known for things. One thing was their airplane paint, which had a shark face on the sides.[3] They were also known for fighting hard during the war. Franklin D. Roosevelt had said they were good.[1]
List of aces
The following are flying aces from the Flying Tigers, with their air-to-air victory credits:[4] (In alphabetical order).
- Percy Bartelt (5.0)
- William Bartling (5.0)
- Charles Bond (7.0)
- George Burgard (10.0)
- Robert Hedman (6.0)
- David Lee "Tex" Hill (10.25)
- Frank Lawlor (7.0)
- Robert Little (10.0)
- William McGarry (8.0)
- Robert Neale (13.0)
- John Newkirk (7.0)
- Charles Older (10.0)
- Edmund Overend (5.0)
- Robert Prescott (5.5)
- Joseph Camille Rosbert (6.0)
- Richard Rossi (6.0)
- Robert Sandell (5.0)
- Robert H. Smith (5.0)
- Robert T. Smith (8.9 kills)