These American mercenaries were the heroes of China

[Nevilledog]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/21/asia/world-war-2-flying-tigers-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

(CNN)Consider this job offer:

A one-year contract to live and work in China, flying, repairing and making airplanes. Pay is as much as $13,700 a month with 30 days off a year. Housing is included and you'll get an extra $550 a month for food. On top of that, there's an extra $9,000 for every Japanese airplane you destroy -- no limit.

That's the deal -- in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars -- that a few hundred Americans took in 1941 to become the heroes, and some would even say the saviors, of China.

Those American pilots, mechanics and support personnel became members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), later known as the Flying Tigers.

The group's American-made warplanes featured the gaping, tooth-filled mouth of a shark on their nose, a fearsome symbol still used on the US Air Force's A-10 ground-attack jets to this day.

*snip*

[soryang]

1. Liked this line

"The story has little in common with real history, and lots of classic post-Pearl Harbor propaganda fills the script,"... about the movie of course.

Read The China Mirage, the Hidden History of the American Disaster in Asia, by James Bradley.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Saw A Great Doc About This

It was on MHC on Comcast.
They did some serious damage to the Japanese land based air corps.
Really interesting.
Almost all of them took commissions once the US entered the war, too.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Somewhere out there is a really good documentary on Claire Lee Chennault

The mover and shaker of the whole Flying Tigers thing.

I can't remember the particulars, but there was a lot of backstabbing when Chennault's rejoined the American forces; the powers that be wanted to usurp his entire authority, and basically take away his baby.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. That Was Mentioned In The One I Saw

He got hero status, and tactical kudos, and lots of other officers were jealous.
Gee, that seems wise in the early stages of a world war!