Flying Tigers

Opuses

Recently finished a book called Flying Tigers — the story of Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group (AVG). If you recall, they were the mercenary fliers who, in shark-nosed P-40s, defended Burma and China at the beginning of World War II. A few of the more or less interesting things I learned:

– Their kill ratios were probably inflated, although still quite good.

– The John Wayne movie was wildly inaccurate.

– Most things considered, it cost China about $75,000 for each Japanese airship the AVG destroyed — one of the few times in warfare when the things doing the destruction cost less than the things destroyed.

– The movie Air America was about an air transport group started during the cold war by Claire Chennault.