The Flying Tiger: The True Story Of General Claire Chennault And The U.S. 14th Air Force In China

by Jack Samson

When a sickly, half-deaf, forty-seven-year-old retired U.S. Army Air Corps Captain went to China in 1937 to survey Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Air Force, little did the world know this
would be the man to stem the Japanese tide in the Far East. Almost every military expert predicted his handful of pilots of the American Volunteer Group would not last three weeks. Yet in seven months in 1942, the AVG, fighting a rear-guard action over Burma, China, Thailand, and French Indonesia, destroyed a confirmed 199 planes, with another 153 “probables” as well. They did this losing only four pilots and twelve P-40s in air combat and
sixty-one on the ground.
Now, in this definitive biography of General Claire Chennault, veteran reporter Jack Samson offers a rare and fascinating inside look at this legendary man behind the Flying Tigers.
Unlike Eisenhower and MacArthur, Chennault was no saintly military leader. He was a chain-smoking, bourbon-drinking, womanizing man. He was the kind of leader his men knew could and did fly better than they--in any kind of plane. But first and last, he was a fighter--a tough, single-minded warrior who was never confused by who the enemy was in Asia, regardless of what the State Department thought.
Following Chennault from this command of the Fourteenth U.S. Army Air Force during World War II to the part of his life that is not well known--the intriguing postwar years in China and Formosa, where his Civilian Air Transport (CAT) became the scourge of the Red Chinese-- The Flying Tiger is an extraordinary portrait of one of America’s great military commanders.

Genres: History, Biography, Aviation

365 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Michael Linton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt the book could have been so much more based on the man it was written about. More than half the book is made up of diary excerpts, letters, transcripts and documents such as those. While it's fascinating to diary excerpts of the men involved, I felt that when that wasn't used as part of the story, the narrative was matter-of-factly. Just a bit boring. Chennault's story is extraordinary but I didn't really get a sense of the who the man was, just what he did.

[Jody Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sympathetic portrait of Chennault. His unwavering support of the corrupt Chiang Kai-shek in hindsight seems wrong, and his rivalry with Army General Joe Stilwell was legendary. But Chennault, if nothing else, should be considered a great American (and Chinese) hero for his hand in forming the volunteer group of American pilots "The Flying Tigers" who fought against the Japanese in 1941 against great odds in their Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. The pilots "volunteered" because America was not in the war yet (this was before Pearl Harbor). Nevertheless, in roughly six months time, the Flying Tigers destroyed almost 300 enemy aircraft for the loss of just four of its own in air-to-air combat.

[Cactuskid · Rating 2 out of 5]

The name of my book was just plain "Chennault". It was a definitive Biography with lots of names of people and places. The author was Jack Samson so it might be the same book. Anyway it was kind of hard to follow with the way it was written. Very interesting in places though. It ended with his going back to China after the war, starting up a carrier aircraft company transporting lots of equipment etc. in lots of different places as well as doing other things. He was very well known throughout China as well as in the US with his Flying Tiger aircraft. The Chinese were so happy to have him come back (the nationalists, not the communists which were starting to try to take over the country at that time). He was good friends with Chiang Kai-shek and his wife and they trusted him to the end.

[S.R. Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as style, it was difficult to read and dragged on with subjective details. The author actually presented Chennault's conversations as if he was there every minute and was inside his head every minute.

However, having said that...

It was chock full of interesting historical details about Chennault and the 14th air Force and helped me undestand this important part of WWII in China.

I did take the book to a patient of mine, who is 106 years old and actually flew in the China/Burma/India Group with Chennault and he signed the book and wrote in some small stories for me about the General he flew under.

[William DuFour · Rating 5 out of 5]

An underrated General who should have been listened to more in regards to China and the Far East and maybe things would've have turned out differently than they are today!

[Beth/Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned alot more about Chenault before the
Flying Tigers were formed and also how he dealt with Stillwell & the Air Force.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was moved reading about his departure from China how so many people showed up to say goodbye and acknowledge his life. Really quite remarkable!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

He taught them how to use a poor airplane to its best advantage.