American Volunteer Group in China by John Shaw

The famous American Volunteer Group, better known as Claire Lee Chennault’s Flying Tigers, is honored in this scene, in which pilots of the AVG’s First and Second Squadron are shown gathered around a jeep with Chennault, reviewing an upcoming mission on the flight line of shark-mouthed Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks. The AVG was comprised of approximately 300 American service personnel, about 100 of whom were combat pilots and the rest technical and support personnel, very few of whom had actual combat experience prior to their experience in the Flying Tigers. With the covert permission of President Roosevelt, these young mercenaries were permitted to resign their American military commissions and “volunteer” to fight for China, earning not only a higher paycheck, but an extra bonus for each enemy aircraft destroyed. Always outnumbered and undersupplied, these resourceful warriors saw their first combat just a few weeks after Pearl Harbor, and in just a few months’ time, established themselves as one of the most legendary fighter units in history.

Hand-signed by these 17 AVG veterans:

Robert M. Smith

Charlie Bond

E. Shilling

R.J. Catfish Raine

Dick Rossi

Al Kaelin

Rode Rodewald

Charlie Mott

Ken Jernstedt

Ed Fobes

Ed Rector

Tex Hill

Twisty Bent

Bob Layher

Rich Richardson

Paul Clouthier