Early in WWII, not long after the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, the first major air battle between American pilots and the Japanese Air Force took place in the skies over Kunming, China, in the southern Yunan Province.
The unique thing that needs to be known about those American pilots is that they were civilians with lots of experience. They were brought together when the war broke out and were promised $600 a month to fly over China under the leadership of a man by the name of Claire Chennault, who would later become a general in the USAAF. They were also promised a $500 bonus for every Japanese plane they shot down. That would be the equivalent in today’s dollars to $10,000 and $8,000.
The air battle described in this video would be fought between the Japanese and this cobbled-together collection of American civilian pilots who called themselves the Flying Tigers and who painted the noses of their P-40 Warhawk fighters with open-mouthed tiger shark teeth. They would prove their metal and their skills in the skies over China in the early months of the war.
Only shortly before this important and successful engagement against the Japanese Air Forces, Chennault, an American aviator who at the time was called on to lead both his Flying Tigers and the small Republic of China Air Force during those early months of the war, moved his 84 civilian pilots and their P-40 Warhawk fighter planes to Kunming, China. They set up a primitive airbase and an even more primitive early-warning system with the help of Chinese skywatchers and the use of a balloon-like aerial lantern warning system.
The Chinese had been one of the earliest targets of the Japanese Imperialist efforts to take all of Asia under their power, along with Korea and Vietnam. The Japanese Imperial Army, Navy, and Air Force were on the move and were confident in their power and superiority at this early part of the war. They got wind of this airbase in Kunming, China, and launched an aerial attack to destroy the base at Kunming. They launched their bombing raid from their own airbase at Hanoi in Vietnam.
The primitive warning system that Chennault had set up worked. Chinese observers saw a large wave of Japanese bombers heading north out of Vietnam in the direction of Kunming. They sent up their aerial lanterns, sending the visual message over the countryside, one observation station after another.
Chennault got the advanced warning of the coming Japanese attack, and he was not going to let his planes be destroyed on the ground by the Japanese like what had happened at Pearl Harbor and other places already. He ordered all of his pilots and their P-40 fighters into the air to attack the incoming Japanese formations.
The Flying Tiger P-40s encountered the Japanese bombers, and Robert Sundell’s 1st squadron opened up the first attack on the Japanese bombers. The rest of the Flying Tigers followed suit and tore through the Japanese formations time and time again. By the end of the air battle, the Flying Tigers had destroyed up to 60% of the Japanese bombers. It was a great Allied victory, the first aerial victory over the Japanese in WWII. It took a great deal of wind out of the arrogant Japanese sense of superiority and encouraged the Americans and the Allies.
This unique fighting unit, the Flying Tigers, would be one of the most respected and honored fighting units in the war, even though it was not an “official” military unit. These American mercenaries would shoot down over 500 Japanese planes by the end of the war.
One of the best-known pilots in this group was the soon to be legendary Greg “Pappy” Boyington, who would leave the Flying Tigers to become a Marine Corps pilot in the Pacific Theater, leading a squadron of his own collection of misfits and skilled pilots who would become known as the Black Sheep Squadron.
The Flying Tigers earned their respect. They would give hope to America that it could defeat the Japanese Imperial forces. In those first months of WWII, they destroyed 296 Japanese planes, losing only 14 of their own pilots before being disbanded in 1942 and replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later absorbed into the 14th Air Force with General Chennault as commander.
In 1992, at the Flying Tiger veterans’ 50th reunion, they were retroactively recognized as members of the U.S. military services during the seven months the group was in combat against the Japanese. They were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for “professionalism, dedication to duty, and extraordinary heroism.” In 1996, the United States Air Force awarded the pilots the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the ground crews were awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Honor, respect, and gratitude to the pilots and crews of the Flying Tigers. You showed the Japanese that they were not invincible. We will never forget!