CHINA: VETERAN PILOTS FROM THE FLYING TIGERS VISIT ON ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR MISSION 60 YEARS AGO

Record ID: 277870

  • Title: CHINA: VETERAN PILOTS FROM THE FLYING TIGERS VISIT ON ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR MISSION 60 YEARS AGO
  • Date: 15th September 2001
  • Summary: MAOER MOUNTAIN, GUANXI PROVINCE (FILE - DECEMBER 1996)(REUTERS) GV REMOTE MOUNTAIN RANGE WHERE OLD AMERICAN BOMBER FROM WORLD WAR TWO WAS FOUND SLV ZOOM IN SCU PARTS OF BOMBER AMONG ROCKS; SLV AMERICAN AIRFORCE TEAM CLIMBING INTO VALLEY TO FIND BOMBER; MV AMERICAN AIRFORCE TEAM LOOKING AT PARTS OF BOMBER; MV MAN DRAWING BOMBER PARTS IN LOG; SCU PARTS OF BOMBER; AMERICAN T
  • Embargoed: 30th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIJING, MAOER MOUNTAIN, GUILIN, GUANGXI PROVINCE AND UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Conflict,History,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5MXBBWNGIW7FQCP5GH8BFPY26
  • Story Text: Sixty years after three American pilots helped defend China against Japanese aggression, the "Flying Tigers" have returned to mark the anniversary of their mission.
    They were given a hero's welcome, three veteran pilots from the "Flying Tigers" unit who risked their lives to protect China against Japanese aggression sixty years ago.
    The three octogenarians were part of an American volunteer flying group (AVG) which fought as China's ally against the Japanese during World War Two.
    Known as the Flying Tigers, the unit defended the Burma Road - a crucial supply route between Rangoon and Chongqing.
    What began as a mercenary force was later absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force.
    Now, sixty years after the pilots began their mission, the pilots have returned to China to remember their daredevil days.
    "Well yes, kind of good memories of the days and the fact that we were fortunate enough to be able to blast the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese airforce and because up 'till that time they had been beating so many people, that everybody thought no one's going to beat them. But when we gave them such a good beating while we were there, it brought joy to our country and to our allies," Richard Rossi, 86, Flying Tigers pilot said.
    "It's the warmth of the natives out in the fields and the farmers and so forth, how pleasant they were and how helpful they were. And the risks that they took to protect and recover our airmen who had bailed out, even at the possible risk of their own lives -- and some of them did lose their own lives to help us," Erikson Schiling, 85, another Flying Tiger pilot said.
    The American planes were painted with tiger shark's teeth, a creature deemed unlucky by Japanese fishermen. They became famous all over China as Fei Hu - meaning Flying Tigers.
    In less than a year, the Flying Tigers shot down 296 Japanese planes. They lost 16 of their own planes. And 22 of their own pilots lost their lives.
    Even though memories are still fresh in China of the Hainan spy plane crisis earlier this year, this reunion in Beijing focused on the days when Sino-U.S. relations were significantly closer.
    Retired teacher Wang Gong was an aeronautical student in his early 20s when he decided to work as an interpreter for the American Air Force in 1944.
    "We were working 24 hours a day by turn and so did the Americans, so we got very close and understood each other and liked each other very much. Those were days to recall, good days to get along with these American soldiers, that was very good," Wang Gong, 76 said.
    General Claire Chennault, who trained Chinese pilots during the 1930s, headed the Flying Tigers after being hired as an instructor and advisor for the Chinese Air Force.
    In China's mountainous regions, the search still goes on for American pilots still listed as missing in action from the War.
    In 1996, Chinese and American officials jointly investigated the site of the crash of a U.S. bomber that went missing on August 31, 1944 while on a run from an airstrip at Liuzhou in Guangxi.
    Two farmers collecting medicinal herbs had discovered the plane in a remote valley in China's southwestern Guangxi region.
    Two dog tags recovered from the site had the names of two of 10 people on board the bomber.
    The plane disappeared on its way back to the base after attacking Japanese warships in a Taiwan port.
    Of the 60 pilots who made up the Flying Tigers, only a few remain, but their memory is kept alive in China.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register