"Remembering the Flying Tigers the Air War in China"

by Saratoga Historical Foundation Historian Ray Cosyn

   Most Americans believe that the war in the Pacific began on December the 7th 1941, the Day of Infamy, as it is known, when the Empire of Japan attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. But the war in the Pacific actually began in 1937 when the Japanese attacked and invaded China. As a result of this invasion the Flying Tigers, a group of American volunteers was formed to fly for China in the event of a war with the United States. Their first action occurred in December of 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In June of the following year they then became part of the 14th Air Force and were instrumental in slowing the advance of the Japanese in China during the course of the war.  “Without them”, a Japanese General said, “we could have gone anywhere in China”.

    The American Air effort in China was not limited to the Flying Tigers but also included the brave pilots and crews that flew the hump for the U.S. Tenth Air Force, and then to the Air Transport Command (ATC) bringing badly needed supplies to Chiang Kai-Chek’s garrison at Chunking. This was the first time a major airlift had been tried in wartime and was so successful that the Burma Road which it was to replace on a temporary basis , turned out to a be a permanent part of the war effort in enabling the Chinese Nationalists to stay in the war to its end.

   Another key part of the air war in China was the recovery of Doolittle and his raider from their attack on Tokyo. These brave pilots who took off from a carrier in the mid Pacific were successful in bombing Tokyo and causing a great concern amongst the Japanese military in how the home islands could be protected. When the raid ended the pilots had to ditch in China and all but three of the B25s that took part in the mission were found and saved by Chinese Guerrillas operating right under the occupation of the Japanese.

       "Remembering the Flying Tigers" is sponsored by the Saratoga Historical Foundation and the Organization of Chinese American Women/Silicon Valley..