I didn’t expect that the Flying Tigers would cause such a big controversy, so let’s talk about the Flying Tigers in detail.
On April 13, 1941, Japan and the Soviet Union concluded the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. At that time, the Soviet Union was facing pressure from German invasion, so it withdrew its volunteer air force to China.
On April 15, 1941, Roosevelt signed a presidential decree allowing U.S. reserve officers and retired Navy and Army personnel to participate in the Volunteer Air Force aiding China, and agreed to the Republic of China's purchase of about 100 P40 Tomahawk fighter jets.
The salary offered by the Republic of China government at that time was US$500 per month for pilots, US$750 for squadron leader, and about US$250 for ground staff, plus a monthly allowance of US$30 for travel expenses, 30 days of paid leave per year, and for every Japanese aircraft shot down,
Received a reward of about US$500, and purchased a life insurance policy of US$10,000 for each volunteer who applied. If a pilot-level ground crew member is disabled or dies during the execution of a mission, the family members can receive up to the equivalent of approximately six
Monthly salary pension.
It should be noted that at this time, the monthly salary of ground staff in the United States was only about US$70, and no other data was found.
In August of the same year, the American Volunteer Air Force was officially established. At that time, the support air force recruited approximately 100 pilots, 150 mechanics and some ground crew members.
It should be noted here that in order to recruit enough pilots, the Support Air Force claimed that the pilots' mission was to attack unescorted Japanese bombers. They did not need to engage in close combat with Japanese fighter jets, and they did not need to undertake any offensive missions or fly at night.
Its flight range is limited to the Burma Road area and will not extend to the Chinese battlefield.
After the first batch of 10 pilots arrived, three of them claimed to have been deceived on the day of arrival and demanded immediate return to the United States.
The remaining seven were completely unqualified. Among them were pilots from the Navy who had no mastery of land takeoff and landing techniques. One pilot even crashed three planes in a row within a week.
During the subsequent service, the Flying Tigers also had frequent problems. Some people often drank alcohol in the barracks, and even got drunk in downtown areas, drove randomly, and caused traffic accidents.
Some people also took Chinese women back to their barracks to stay overnight.
Some people even colluded with the Chinese and used volunteers' trucks to attempt to smuggle goods from Myanmar into mainland China to make money from the national crisis.
Others privately allowed American journalists to break into military restricted areas to conduct interviews and take photos, and then publicized volunteer team secrets in American newspapers.
But at the same time, the Flying Tigers also made great achievements in the anti-Japanese war. As of July 1942, the American Volunteer Air Force shot down 299 Japanese aircraft over Myanmar. This data is not accurate, and there were exaggerations and false reports at the time.
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
On December 8, the United States declared war on Japan.
It was not until the next year, July 4, 1942, that the Flying Tigers were officially integrated into the 10th Air Force Group of the United States in China.
The article does not deny the role of the Flying Tigers. The focus of the last sentence in the previous chapter is "blown to the sky by the United States." It is now August 3, 2020. We have just closed the US Embassy in Chengdu, and the United States is in Chengdu.
We use the Flying Tigers to promote their help to us, so we mentioned it in the article.
I know that writing like this will make some book friends feel uncomfortable, but I still insist that the Flying Tigers are mercenaries. I have not written off the contribution of the Flying Tigers because the Republic of China paid them, but I will not deny it because the United States
After a few compliments from the embassy, he changed his position and expressed gratitude to the Flying Tigers.
As some book friends said, Europe paid for the employment of Chinese workers during World War I, but we, the descendants of Chinese workers in Europe, did not ask Europe to be grateful for this.
In short, I won't lick you, and don't kidnap me because of my morals.
