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President Roosevelt’s assistant, Dr. Lauchlin Currie, had already recommended that
Chennault and his organization be inducted into the US military as a force in being in Asia. The
US Army soon began making inquiries along those lines. Chennault began to sound out
Chiang’s views on the subject via Madame Chiang (who had served as head of the Chinese
Aeronautical Commission). Chennault indicated there were certain advantages to China if the
A.V.G. were incorporated into the US Army Air Force. These included that China would save
money, reinforcements would be more likely, and there would be fewer disciplinary problems
among the “enlisted personnel.” The “enlisted personnel” were for the most part actually former
enlisted men who had been released from active duty along the same lines as the A.V.G. pilots.
They, with some personnel recruited in Asia, constituted the technical and administrative staff of
the A.V.G. Chennault suggested the issue of discrepancy in pay could be handled by China
supplementing the salaries of inducted A.V.G. members until their original contracts expired.
The only down-side Chennault mentioned was that an officer unfamiliar with China (meaning
someone other than Chennault) might be assigned to command the group. Daniel Ford has
pointed out that Chennault was quite prepared to be recalled to active duty in the Army, but not
at a rank below Brigadier General. 78
Meanwhile, one squadron of the A.V.G. had been moved to Mingaladon airfield north of
Rangoon. Here, beginning on December 23 rd the A.V.G. and a British squadron of Brewster
Buffalo fighters met units of the Japanese Army Air Force in a series of clashes over several
days. Both sides suffered losses, but the Allies and particularly the A.V.G., claimed spectacular
successes. They became front page news. By early 1942, the American volunteer pilots fighting
over Burma, soon called the Flying Tigers, were known throughout America.
The Flying Tigers continued to defend Rangoon and southern Burma until early March
1942 when Rangoon fell. In doing so, they operated in coordination with and under the general
direction of the local British command. They withdrew to central Burma, and then in April to
Lashio. A.V.G. squadrons periodically rotated from China to combat operations in Burma.
Most of the Japanese fighters encountered by the Flying Tigers were fixed landing gear
army Type 97 fighters. However, intermittently they clashed with army Type 1 fighters flown by
the 64 th Hiko Sentai (Flying Regiment) that were routinely mistaken for the Japanese navy’s
Type Zero fighter, the fighter that had devastated Chinese-flown Soviet-built fighters in 1940
and early 1941. Their claims of success over the formidable Zero fighter only added to the luster
of their reputation.
The Chinese Army had intervened to help the Allied cause in Burma. By late April 1942,
it had been thrown back to the borders of western China and was being hard-pressed by the
Japanese in the mountains and gorges bordering the Salween River. Instead of flying air
combat missions where Japanese aircraft could be destroyed and $500 bonuses won,
Chennault ordered A.V.G. pilots to strafe Japanese troop columns in the narrow gorges. Similar
missions had been ordered and flown earlier in the campaign. Both A.V.G. pilots and planes
were pretty worn out by this point, and some pilots’ morale was low. This led to a “revolt” of
sorts by some of the pilots who refused to fly such missions. Other pilots were called in to fly a
few strafing missions, but ground strafing was soon strictly limited.
While the A.V.G. was gaining fame it, was also encountering problems common to many
military organizations. In addition to the “revolt” mentioned above, there were many routine
78 Ford (note 60) op. cit., 107.
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