In order to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and evoke the glorious memory of China and the United States joining forces to fight against Japan in the history of the Anti-Japanese War, this event was organized by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture, Kunming Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Bureau, Kunming Dianchi Lake Management Bureau, Kunming With the approval of the Municipal Local Maritime Safety Bureau and the strong support of the China Aviation Museum, the famous domestic Internet company Kongwang announced that the plan to salvage the "Flying Tigers" civil war aircraft that crashed in the Dianchi Lake in Yunnan in 1942 has been officially launched. The first step of detection is currently underway. The positioning work has begun. Kongkong.com, together with the sea survey team of the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, which has the top level in China, is carrying high-precision detection instruments to detect the position of the aircraft in Dianchi Lake.
About the Flying Tigers
When it comes to the Flying Tigers, everyone must be familiar with the Hong Kong Flying Tigers. But the Flying Tigers mentioned here refer to a special team that the United States supported China's Anti-Japanese War during the Anti-Japanese War. The official name is the American Volunteer Group (AVG), also known as the American Volunteer Air Force of the Chinese Air Force. It is an air force composed of American pilots established in the Republic of China during World War II. Fight against Japan in China, Burma and other places.
Creation of the Flying Tigers
The founder of the "Flying Tigers" was American flight instructor Claire Lee Chennault.
Chennault was born in Texas on September 6, 1893, and had excellent flying skills. At the invitation of the Kuomintang government, Chennault arrived in China in early July 1937 to inspect the Air Force and serve as a consultant. Towards the end of the inspection, the Sino-Japanese war broke out. Chennault accepted Soong Meiling's suggestion and established an aviation school in the suburbs of Kunming to train the Chinese Air Force according to U.S. military standards. He also actively assisted the Chinese Air Force in fighting Japan. Due to Japanese diplomatic pressure, Chennault's activities gradually became private. In 1941, Chennault accepted the commission from the Kuomintang government and went to the United States to recruit pilots. With the secret support of the Roosevelt administration, he recruited U.S. military pilots and mechanics in the name of private organizations with large sums of money to participate in the war as civilians. When Chennault returned to China in mid-July 1941, 68 aircraft, 110 pilots, 150 mechanics and other support personnel had arrived in China.
Chennault recruited about 100 pilots in the United States, 40 of whom were from the Army Air Corps, 60 from the Navy and Marine Corps, most of whom were reserve officers, and a few who were commissioned by the U.S. government from the Air Force. Among the pilots who voluntarily retired and transferred to serve in AVG, however, less than one-third of these pilots had flown fighter training, and most of them were recruited from bomber units; in addition, about 200 ground staff were recruited. Pilots are nominally employees of China's "Central Aircraft Manufacturing Factory". The pilot's monthly salary is US$600 (the maximum monthly salary for a US Army Air Force pilot was US$347 in 1942 [2]), the squad leader's monthly salary is US$650, and the squadron leader's monthly salary is US$700. In addition, there is a $500 bonus for each Japanese aircraft shot down. The original plan of the Volunteer Air Force was to be divided into three groups, including two fighter groups and one bomber group; but by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, only one fighter group was established.
Officially established
On August 1, 1941, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to formally establish the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force and appointed "Colonel Chennault as the commander of the group." Chennault immediately began special training for the volunteer team members. After several months of training, the tactical level of the volunteer team members has been greatly improved. On September 1, 1941, the headquarters of the Volunteer Group was moved to the "Central Aircraft Manufacturing Factory" in Leiyun, Yunnan.
Origin of the name Flying Tigers
Initially, someone from the American Volunteer Group of the Air Force of the Republic of China proposed painting a shark head on the head of the aircraft to scare the Japanese. In December 1941, the Air Force won its first battle over Kunming. Since mainland Chinese residents had never seen a shark, they mistakenly called these aircraft "Flying Tigers." A newspaper published in Kunming the next day used the term "flying tiger" to describe the volunteer team's aircraft.
After the Chinese translator in the aviation team saw it, he told Chennault the name which he translated as "Flying Tiger". The team members also thought it was very good, so they named the aviation team "Flying Tigers".
Fighters during the founding period of the Flying Tigers
The P-40 aircraft was the main equipment of the Flying Tigers and the main fighter of the U.S. Army in the early and middle stages of the Pacific War. When preparing to establish the Air Force Volunteer Corps, in addition to the recruitment of pilots, the deployment of fighter aircraft was also a big problem. The war in Europe was also tight, and Nazi Germany (September 1, 1939 - May 8, 1945) was on the European continent at that time. The naval blockade was quite strict, and the United States also provided military assistance to the European battlefield at that time. Later, 100 P-40 aircraft were transferred from the United Kingdom and shipped to Yangon. They will be taken over by Qian Changzuo, transferred to the Zhonghang Factory for manufacturing and assembly, and qualified for test flight, and then allocated to the US Volunteer Team for collection. This fighter is equipped with a water-cooled piston engine, a streamlined fuselage and a huge radiator under the nose, which form the aircraft's beautiful appearance. The trapezoidal lower wings are equipped with weapons and can retract and retract the rear three-point landing gear. Its maximum speed is 552 kilometers/hour. During World War II, the P-40's main opponent was the Japanese Zero fighter. In comparison, the P-40's maneuverability is not as good as the Japanese Zero fighter, but it has a higher dive speed.
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