American Volunteer Group

American Volunteer Group (AVG). Known as the ‘Flying Tigers’, because of the bared fangs painted on the noses of their fighters, this formation was the brainchild of Captain Chennault, a retired US Army Air Corps officer who was an adviser to the Chinese government and a colonel in its air force.

In April 1941 the Chinese agreed to Chennault's scheme that a number of American squadrons, manned by volunteer pilots from the US Army and Navy on one-year contracts, could operate in China against the invading Japanese (see China incident). About 100 pilots and 200 ground staff were recruited and the British made an air base at Toungoo in Burma available for training, which began in September 1941. By November three squadrons, equipped with Tomahawk (P40) fighters, had been formed there, and Chennault was busy teaching them the tactics he had evolved from years of studying Japanese methods: stay in pairs; don't dogfight; use the Tomahawk's superior diving speed to make one pass, shoot, and break away (see also fighters, 2).

Once Japan was at war with the Allies, Chiang Kai-shek kept a previous promise that the AVG could be employed in Burma if that country were attacked, and one squadron was used to defend Rangoon at the start of the Burma campaign while the other two were stationed in the Chinese city of Kunming from where they patrolled the Burma Road. All three squadrons were soon in action when Japanese bombers attempted to raid Kunming on 20 December 1941, and three days later 60 Japanese bombers attacked Rangoon's docks and the AVG's airfield at Mingaladon. Two AVG aircraft were shot down during these encounters, and two more were lost during a raid on Christmas Day, but the AVG and RAF squadrons accounted for 30 Japanese aircraft between them despite being heavily outnumbered.

On 4 January 1942 about 30 Japanese fighters tried to break through Rangoon's air defences but were driven off by the AVG, and on 23 January they launched their main effort to overwhelm the aircraft defending the city. Between that date and 29 January there was continuous fighting above Rangoon in which about 50 Japanese aircraft were probably destroyed while the RAF lost ten and the AVG two. Another, and final, attempt to overwhelm the defences was made on 25 and 26 February, but out of a force of 170 bombers and fighters about 34 were destroyed, most of them by the AVG. This victory enabled ships carrying reinforcements to arrive safely and for the evacuation of Rangoon to proceed without interference. But by 27 February Allied operational air strength had been reduced to only ten fighters, many of which had been damaged or lacked spares, and after the Japanese entered Rangoon on 8 March the surviving AVG aircraft were withdrawn to Magwe. Eventually they joined the other two squadrons in Kunming and were later deployed against Japanese bombers attacking Chinese cities.

It had been hoped that the induction of the AVG into Chennault's new command, the China Air Task Force, which was to be part of Tenth USAAF, would proceed smoothly. But when their contracts ran out in July 1942 only five pilots stayed on though another 20 agreed to remain until replacements could be found.

Total AVG losses amounted to 50 aircraft and 9 pilots for 286 Japanese aircraft destroyed. See also air power.

Bibliography

Chennault, A. , Chennault and the Flying Tigers (New York, 1963).