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Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942 |  | Author: Daniel Ford
Publisher: HarperCollins|Smithsonian Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 157991
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised and updated
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061246557
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544951
EAN: 9780061246555
ASIN: 0061246557
Publication Date: August 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
During World War II, in the skies over Rangoon, Burma, a handful of American pilots met and bloodied the "Imperial Wild Eagles" of Japan and in turn won immortality as the Flying Tigers. One of America's most famous combat forces, the Tigers were recruited to defend beleaguered China for $600 a month and a bounty of $500 for each Japanese plane they shot downâfantastic money in an era when a Manhattan hotel room cost three dollars a night. To bring his prize-winning history of the American Volunteer Group up to date, Daniel Ford has completely rewritten his 1991 text, drawing on the most recent U.S., British, and Japanese scholarship. New material from AVG veteransâincluding Erik Shilling and Tex Hillâhelp fill out the story, along with newfound recollections from Japanese and New Zealand airmen. Ford also takes up the rumors that Royal Air Force pilots "sold" combat victories to the Flying Tigers in order to share in the bounties paid by the Chinese government. "Admirable," wrote Chennault biographer Martha Byrd of Ford's original text. "A readable book based on sound sources. Expect some surprises." Even more could that be said of this new and more complete edition.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 The truth about a legend September 26, 2007
John R. Beaman Jr. (Greensboro, NC USA)
26 out of 28 found this review helpful
The American Volunteer Group (AVG), aka The Flying Tigers, are legendary. What young boy growing up in the 1940s and 50s has not been enthralled with John Wayne and the movie, Flying Tigers ? Great stuff. Most Americans believe the AVG was fighting the Japanese months, if not years, before Pearl Harbor. The truth is a little more prosaic. They flew their first combat mission 3 days after Pearl Harbor and made their first claim only on Dec 20th, 1941.
Daniel Ford originally published this book in the early 1990s. He did this with official records of the group from US archival sources as well as Japanese historians who worked for years on official Japanese records and first person AVG and Japanese stories to flesh out these records.
Ford was attacked, endlessly, by "keepers of the legend" as well as former AVG members still alive. The reason is he lent a truth and perspective. The AVG is officially credited with over 290 Japanese aircraft shot down over Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and China. Official Japanese records credit them with about ½ that amount. Over the years, the stories and accomplishments grew. The AVG claimed they could only be credited with half the amount they actually shot down because so many were behind Japanese lines. So they claimed at least 600, then it has grown to close to 1,000. The AVG people claim that official Japanese records are lies, perpetuated to this day.
It is a shame this goes on. Their record, even with less kills, is one to be proud of. The AVG fought courageously with an aircraft inferior in some ways to Japanese machines, in appalling living conditions with an ally, Chang-Kai-shek, who did not really care about the war, per se, but only holding his power and position against the Chinese communists in the show-down to come. The AVG's record deserves to be a legend, but not quite the John Wayne type.
Ford laid all this out in his first edition in a very readable of historical book. This second edition corrects some errors, adds information and comments on his on-going controversy with the keepers of the AVG legend. If this interests you at all, buy this book, admire their accomplishments and admire Dan Ford for his ground-breaking work.
Even Better August 28, 2007
Barrett Tillman (Mesa, AZ United States)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
As a professional author, I can attest that few of us get to rewrite a book, making use of "new" material. (There seems a law of the universe that as soon as a book hits the street, that hard-to-find bit of info finally turns up!) Fortunately for the cause of aviation history, Dan Ford is one of "the few."
Ford's definitive history of the AVG caused a sensation when first published, mainly because he dared challenge the conventional wisdom, not to mention the mythology attending the Flying Tigers. With passage of enough time, the worth of his initial effort became even more apparent, and even some of his critics within the AVG began acknowledging that he got far more right than wrong.
Apart from new material, the second edition retains the strengths of the first: honest scholarship and good writing. Ford clearly admires his subjects, but succeedds in telling the human side of the legendary airmen and the ground staff that "kept 'em flying." Claire Chennault's faults and foibles lend credence to the overall worth of this fine effort, which is unlikely ever to be surpassed.
Historical accuracy re-enforcing legend November 4, 2007
D. Corporation (Pacific islands)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
The Flying Tigers are one of the few legends of American history. But in this skeptical age, it's hard to believe a legend. Author Dan Ford brings a historian's skills to researching what really happened in Burma and China when a handful of volunteer American airmen took on virtually the entire Japanese Army Air Force in southern China and southeast Asia. Ford shows that, while--not unusually--the Tigers are credited with destroying more enemy planes than they actually did, the number of planes that can be reliably confirmed as destroyed by them is still phenomenal, considering the odds they faced, the poor conditions they flew in, and the almost total lack of support from the U.S. Ford has the novelist's knack of being able to evoke the feel of a place with a few key words and phrases. After reading his book, you know what it was like to be in Rangoon as the British Empire crumbled and the barbarian invader closed in. -- CDB
New Take On The Tigers December 29, 2008
Jack Roberts (Tuscaloosa, Alabama USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The American Volunteer Group -- aka The Flying Tigers -- are the United States' own Knights of the Air. And like their RAF counterparts, who held the line against the Luftwaffe in 1940, have benefited from endless mythologizing ever since.
The Flying Tigers' story is every bit as romantic as Dowding's Fighter Boys: The Tigers inflicted the first losses on an enemy that seemed invincible, and fought in an exotic and alien landscape at the end of a fragile supply chain thousands of miles long.
Daniel Ford and Derek Robinson were both attacked in the '90s when their books came out -- "The Flying Tigers" and "Piece of Cake," respectively -- casting a more realistic light on the AVG and RAF's accomplishments.
But any controversy here is misplaced: As Ford makes clear, the Tigers' accomplishments are heroic and thrilling enough without the gloss of mythology. He has done a fine chop or portraying what was in fact a desperate time for the Allies -- particularly Americans in the Far East facing the Japanese onslought.
In reality, The Flying Tigers mainly fought holding actions with an occasional offensive action thrown in when the Old Man thought he could get away with it. This excellent book shows the Tigers in a new and honorable light -- but also makes it clear they were haggard, worn-out and on the verge of revolt at times. New research is incorporated effectively into the text: Ford's exhaustive work includes interviews with the Tigers' Japanese opponents, evaulation of JAAF records and -- most amusing for me -- delightful accounts from Japanese newspapers highlighting Tokyo's "spin" on the pesky "Flying Cats."
This is a fine piece of aviation history and I highly recommend it.
I'm puzzled July 25, 2009
Philip Martin (Pennsylvania, USA)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I haven't read the book yet, except for a few pages that mention Gerhard Neumann, whom I'm interested in. I'm puzzled that what Ford says about him is true, but misleading. He says "Then there was Gerhard Neumann...whom Chennault had befriended in 1939, and who now joined the AVG as a mechanic." Then he quotes information about the AVG from Neumann's autobiography "Herman the German "Just Lucky I Guess,") without naming it. Later he says "The refugee mechanic Gerhard Neumann remembered it fondly:..." and lifts more from the unnamed autobiography. Finally Ford says "Nine more agreed to join the army as enlisted men, including Gerhard Neumann and three Chinese American mechanics..." That's all I can find in Ford's book, using the index. What I don't see mentioned is that Neumann subsequently had a career with General Electric, retiring as a corporate vice president, in charge of the 31,000 employee Aircraft Engine Group. Not your average mechanic, although he was a very good one, thanks to his superb German training and innate ability.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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