Bridge Over the Salween River
The Flying Tigers, officially known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), need little introduction. Founded by retired U.S. Army officer Claire L. Chennault, who had been active in China since the late 1930s, the unit was composed of around one hundred volunteer pilots drawn from the Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps. In 1941, Chennault managed to secure Curtiss P-40B fighters for the unit, which had been established to support Chinese resistance against Japanese aggression.
#82241BOXART STORY
The Flying Tigers, officially known as the
American Volunteer Group (AVG), need little
introduction. Founded by retired U.S. Army officer
Claire L. Chennault, who had been active in China
since the late 1930s, the unit was composed
of around one hundred volunteer pilots drawn
from the Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps.
In 1941, Chennault managed to secure Curtiss
P-40B fighters for the unit, which had been
established to support Chinese resistance against
Japanese aggression.
Chennault originally planned to create three
separate units, including a bomber unit, but the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor abruptly changed
those intentions. The AVG was thrown into action,
and between December 20, 1941, and early July 1942,
its pilots claimed nearly 300 aerial victories over
China and Burma.
Their opponents were aircraft of the Imperial
Japanese Army Air Force. Enemy fighters included
the Ki-27 and Ki-43-I, which the Americans
frequently misidentified as the more famous Zero.
While the Japanese dominated other parts of Asia
and the Pacific, the Flying Tigers achieved notable
early successes, quickly becoming darlings of
the Allied press. However, their independent
status made them a source of frustration for the
U.S. Army Air Forces, which pushed to integrate
them into its own command structure. This led to
tense negotiations between Chennault, Chinese
authorities, and the U.S. military. Discipline within
the unit was also a recurring issue.
Most readers associate the Flying Tigers with the
iconic P-40B Tomahawk, but somewhat overlooked
is the P-40E Kittyhawk, which AVG operated during
the final three months of its existence. By the
end of 1941, 50 P-40Es originally intended for the
U.S. Army Air Forces were reassigned to the AVG.
These aircraft were loaded aboard the cargo ship
Ferne Glen and shipped in disassembled form to
West Africa, where they were to be reassembled
by American personnel and flown the rest of the
way to China. By the time the new aircraft were
expected to arrive, the AVG was already scheduled
to be restructured as the 23rd Fighter Group.
The volunteers collected the new fighters in
Accra, present-day Ghana. The first four Kittyhawks
arrived in Kunming, China, on March 22, 1942, flown
by George McMillan, the legendary R.T. Smith,
Paul Greene, and Link Laughlin. The aircraft bore
Chinese national insignia and shark-mouth nose
art, with guns harmonized at 300 yards.
The pilots welcomed the stronger armament and
more powerful engine, but they soon discovered
a drawback: during recovery from a dive, the
aircraft had a tendency to continue descent even
when the nose had already come above the horizon.
The new P-40Es saw combat for the first time on
April 8, 1942, during a Japanese raid on the Loiwing
airfield. Around noon, the alarm was sounded.
RAF Hurricanes from No. 17 Squadron, AVG
Tomahawks, and three Kittyhawks flown by Oley
Olson, Ken Jernstedt, and Bob Little scrambled to
intercept. They faced roughly a dozen Hayabusa
fighters from the elite 64th Hikō Sentai, led by the
famed Colonel Takeo Kato himself.
The Japanese succeeded in destroying one
Blenheim, one P-40E, and damaging another
Kittyhawk on the ground, but suffered in the air,
losing four aircraft and their pilots. Among the
dead was Captain Katsumi Anma, commander of
the 3rd Chūtai, with 12 aerial victories to his name.
The chaotic nature of the fight led AVG pilots to be
credited with 12 kills.
By spring 1942, mixed formations of Tomahawks
and Kittyhawks were frequently tasked with
ground-attack missions against targets such as
airfields, convoys, cargo ships, and bridges. One
of the pilots involved in these missions was the
commander of the AVG's 2nd Squadron, David Lee
"Tex" Hill. On April 12, 1942, flying a P-40E, Hill opened
his score with the destruction of two bombers
on the ground at the Toungoo airfield. At the time,
he was already an ace with five aerial victories.
Later that month, he scored a quarter-share in
a bomber kill and downed two Zeros. In May,
he added another Zero to his tally, and on July
6, north-west of Canton, he recorded the AVG’s
penultimate victory, shooting down a fixed-gear
Japanese fighter.
The subject of Adam Tooby’s boxart is a mission
led by “Tex” Hill on May 7, 1942, targeting a Japanese
pontoon bridge across the Salween River. The
bridge was part of a Japanese effort to move
troops and supplies into China. To stop them, Hill
led a flight of four P-40Es in a bombing and strafing
run against Japanese positions in a canyon over
a mile deep. Over the next four days, AVG pilots
carried out continuous sorties into the canyon,
effectively neutralizing Japanese forces. From that
day forward, the Japanese never advanced beyond
the west bank of the Salween. Reflecting on the
significance of these missions, Claire Chennault
later wrote: "The American Volunteer Group had
staved off China's collapse on the Salween."
Text: Jan Bobek
Illustration: Adam Tooby
Bridge Over the Salween River
INFO Eduard32
June 2025