80 Years Later, the Legacy of the Flying Tigers Endures

Monday, December 20, 2021 at 01:10 PM ET

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Captain Claire Chennault at the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, AL, in 1932. [Courtesy: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force]

Key Takeaways:

The American Volunteer Group (AVG), known as the "Flying Tigers," was an all-volunteer group of U.S. mercenary pilots who, starting in December 1941, achieved significant early air combat victories against Japanese forces in China.
Led by Claire Chennault, the Flying Tigers developed innovative "defensive pursuit" tactics, leveraging the strengths of their P-40 aircraft and exploiting Japanese predictability to defeat technically superior adversaries.
Active for only seven months (December 1941 to July 1942), their high success rate and strategic victories provided a critical morale boost for the U.S. after Pearl Harbor and validated Chennault's air combat theories, influencing future air force doctrine.

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On December 20, 1941, an all-volunteer group of American mercenary pilots took on Japanese bombers in their first air combat mission to protect China.

By day’s end, the American Volunteer Group (AVG)—better known as the “Flying Tigers”—would go on to down nine out of 10 Japanese bombers in the first of many air battles in a seven-month campaign that helped block Japanese expansion into China.