[.uk] Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and the American ... (ISBN 1560985410)

A POLITICALLY CORRECT REVISIONIST HISTORY:
This is a book I believe to be a revisionist history of the AVG (American Volunteer Group) also known by the more colorful sobriquet of "The Flying Tigers". The name had a very positive effect on the Chinese and so upset the Japanese that they would not even print the name in their reports or newspapers as it was "too terrible". I believe the book to be a good one except for the effort to reduce the victories attained by the AVG. Mr. Ford is correct in that the AVG did not fight the Zero. The Zero was withdrawn from China in Sept. of 1940. They did, however, fight the Ki-43 which was very similar in appearance and performance. Mr. Ford's narrative takes the reader from the very beginning when pilots and support personnel were recruited from the Army and the Navy to the very bitter end when the exhausted and much put upon surviving members of the AVG were very shabbily treated, particularly by USAAF General Clayton Bissel, and summarily disbanded without fanfare or thanks by their government. The Chinese, however, were extremely grateful and showed it in many ways. The writer touches on the complex relationships between Chennault, Chaing Kai-Skek and his vivacious and charming American educated wife the former Mai-Ling Soong who was known as Madame Chaing Kai-Shek. Other players such as the universally loathed Clayton Bissell (whom Chenault hated) and General Joseph Stilwell (who hated anything that did not walk,i.e., fliers). The politics here are are truly Machivalian and would require another book to do them justice ( read "The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave). Claire Lee Chennault was a great aviator and a master tactician who had little use for the conventional military. He had been in China since 1937 and was intensely loyal to Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-Chek. The book chronicles the recruiting and deployment of the air group to China via Burma with great and sometimes tedious detail. The AVG arrived as a complete unit with planes, spare parts, technical, medical and administrative staff. They are described as mercenaries by Mr. Ford. t I know of no mercenaries who were so completely equipped and paid for by their own (US) government. This is in marked contrast to US pilots such as Ajax Baumler and Frank Tinker who flew in the Spanish Civil War but did so completely on their own. Chennault arranged for the unit to train intensely at Toungoo north of Rangoon and it was this training that was at the root of this units great effectiveness. The book reveals much of the diverse and interesting personalities who found themselves together at the end of a long road. Pilots such as fighter ace R. T. Smith ( a man who definitely did not like this book), Tex Hill, Bob Little, Gregory Boyington, staff members Harvey and Olga Greenlaw and many other fascinating characters are described in this book. One thing that Mr. Ford did do that I liked was give some words to the five remarkable women who were also members of the Flying Tigers. The first fatal accidents begin almost immediately and the combat losses begin with the very spirited defense of Rangoon, a battle ultimately lost. The book purports to to detail every combat for the entire life of the AVG and makes use of Japanese records and interviews with Japanese survivors. Mr. Ford's research reduces the number of victories claimed by the AVG and in so doing has enraged surviving members of the Flying Tigers. I am in complete disagreement with Mr. Ford here and feel that if anything the victory tally should have been even higher. My own tendency is also to believe those who were there over those who were not. As Mr. Ford was not there and was never a combat pilot so I leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. Also I have read every book ever written about the AVG and cannot help but give credence to the fact that none are in agreement with Mr. Ford's book in respect to the combat record of the group. Read this and judge for yourself. This book belongs on the shelf of any Flying Tiger student, if, for nothing else, its contrasting views.

The truth behind the myth:
Daniel Ford took on a difficult job: cutting through the hype to offer an objective assessment of the Flying Tigers' actual combat performance during their brief existence from late 1941 through mid-1942. Ford carries out this task with pain-staking rigor, sorting through U.S. and Japanese flight reports and other pieces of evidence. His conclusion: The Tigers, mercenary U.S. airmen hired to defend China from Japan, didn't come close to the exploits attributed to them - but did put on an impressive performance against the Japanese air force that vastly outnumbered them, destroying about 115 Japanese planes (not the 296 they were credited). Ford writes well and displays a sense of humor about the absurdities of war and human behavior -- and an empathy for young men fighting in difficult circumstances. But Flying Tigers doesn't rise to greatness because the characters never really come to life. Ford offers such a wide-ranging, chronological account that characters can disappear for 100 pages; when they return, you barely remember them. Not even the Tigers' leader, Claire Chennault, emerges as a full-blooded character. Even so, the Chennault described here is far different from hare-brained opportunist depicted in Barbara Tuchman's magisterial Stilwell and the American Experience in China. In this account, Chennault is an innovative advocate of air power, beloved by his men and constantly forced to defend them from bureaucratic assaults. I'm not sure whether Ford or Tuchman got closer to the truth. But reading this book, at a time when partisanship and hype so often substitute for digging and analysis, you have to admire Ford's effort. You sense you are in the company of a good man, searching for truth even if it means taking a little of the glow off the myth surrounding men he obviously admires.

Gen.Chennault and the AVG by Daniel Ford:
An excellent book based on fact about Gen. Chennault and the men and WOMAN that made up the Flying Tigers. Very enjoyable reading and I could hardly put it down.

A book about flying tigers that the real flying tigers disagree:
This is a book of contradiction and conflict. The real flying tigers disagree and dislike this book, for example, Erik Shilling who was one key person of AVG to make the famous shark teeth on the P40 the AVG symbol. Mr. Ford did extensive research under a Smithsonian fellowship. The book covers the information about AVG, and the author attempted to "balance" by adopting much info from Japanese sources as well. In addition, there is the introduction of the airplane performance for readers who are not familiar with world war II airplanes. So why so many AVGs disagree and dislike the book, although many of the AVGs provided information and assisted with the book writing? This reviewer believes: 1. the author describes the AVG as mercenaries or adventurers, but not patriots. AVG was recruited under President Roosvelt's secret executive order. I wonder what the author's view on the Eagle squadron in England is? (England paid the Eagle squadron a salary higher than China to AVG) Some of the AVG pilots volunteered for 2 more weeks after the disbandment on July 4th, 1942, and was KIA in that 2 weeks. This disrepect to AVG is definitely unwarranted and misleading to readers who want to learn about AVG. 2. The author tore down AVG's score by comparing with the Japanese source, and in numerous places within the book to claim that AVG greatly exaggerated the score. True in the 2nd world war that fighter pilots from all countries over-estimated their kills. It is not difficult to find that AVG over claimed the kill. But thinking that Japanese record is accurate is the major flaw in the author's approach. Near the end of the book, Mr. Ford finally admitted that Japanese pilots could exaggerate their kill score even worse and he used much information from Japanese pilots' memoir written in the 1980s because much official documents was destroyed near the end of the war in Japan! Another point, the author does not understand the importance of "face" in Asian culture. The Japanese military isolated all the Midway task force after defeat and concealed the news to the Japanese people!! How should the accuracy of those Japanese late-day memoirs be checked? 3. The book also missed addressing the key point: right after the Pearl Harbor, AVG was the only winning (or maybe not-defeated by Mr. Ford's approach?) allied air group. The book failed to portray in the right proportion that AVG, in the shortage of the supply and spare parts, faced a Japanese army air force of at least 2x to 5x size. The failure of JAAF to annihilate AVG is the best testimony that AVG defeated JAAF! In the even grander historic scope, AVG freed the China from the JAAF bombardment and stopped the barbecuing of the major Chinese cities (and its citizens). The author's lack of history training, general knowlege of air-warfare and airplane flaws the book as an objective historic account. It makes readers wonder whether the book is written by a Japanese author. It certainly failed to recognize the historic contribution by General Chennault and the AVG in stopping Japanese aggression - which even US military finally recogizes half century after the end of the 2nd world war. The reviewer recommends other books on Amazon to readers of strong interest in AVG which have much better value in collection, such as 1. Tale of a tiger by RT Smith 2. A flying tiger's diary by Charles Bond among many other books. the official AVG website \o...\c provide much more information including the list of books to the interested readers.

Flying Tigers:
One of the best and most objective accounts of the AVG in China and the politics that helped draw the US into the second world war. A 'must read' for anyone interested in the history and politics of that period, not to mention those interested in vintage wartime aviation. Best if read with Greenlaw's "The Lady and the Tigers" and Boyington's "Baa Baa Black Sheep".