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 Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group) were U.S. volunteer mercenary pilots who defended China against Japanese expansion from late 1941 to mid-1942, acting as an unofficial American aid before the U.S. officially entered WWII.
Led by Claire Chennault, the AVG employed innovative "defensive pursuit" tactics, effectively leveraging the strengths of their P-40 aircraft to defeat superior Japanese Zero fighters.
Operating for just seven months, they achieved a remarkable 20-to-1 kill ratio, significantly boosting American morale and validating Chennault's unconventional air combat strategies.

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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.