1. How long has the Flying Tigers existed?
On August 1, 1941, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to formally establish the American Volunteer Brigade of the Chinese Air Force, appoint "Colonel Chennault as the commander of the brigade", and purchase fighters for its use at a high price (the first batch of 100 Hawker-81 fighters of the Chennault Department cost $45,000 per unit).
On July 3, 1942, Chennault disbanded the American Air Volunteer Corps on the orders of the U.S. War Department and Chiang Kai-shek, and formed the 23rd Group under the 10th Air Force of the U.S. Army, mainly with some members of the volunteer team.
That is, the Flying Tigers have actually existed for 11 months.
2. The rank of Chennault, the founder of the Flying Tigers
In January 1936, Colonel Mao Bangchu of the Republic of China Air Force invited Lieutenant Chennault to the Central Aviation School in Jianqiao, Hangzhou, as a flight instructor. On June 3, Soong appointed him as an adviser to the Republic of China Air Force to help establish the Kuomintang Air Force.
In April 1937, he retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of lieutenant. In early July, Chennault arrived in China to inspect the Air Force. In August, he participated in the Supreme Defense Conference of the Kuomintang and participated in the formulation of the operational plan of the Chinese Air Force. Under pressure from Japanese diplomacy, Chennault's activities gradually became private.
In 1938, at the invitation of Song Meiling, he prepared to build a Chinese aviation training school in Liuzhou, which was later moved to Kunming to train the Chinese Air Force and establish an early warning network for ground air raids.
In 1940, he was summoned by Chiang Kai-shek and went to the United States with Mao Bangchu to recruit pilots and buy aircraft.
On August 1, 1941, the American Volunteer Air Force of the Chinese Air Force was established as a private organization, with Chennault as the captain of the colonel. In July and October, more than 200 people came to China in two batches. On 7 December, Chennault led the 1st and 2nd Squadrons to Kunming.
On July 4, 1942, the U.S. Air Volunteer Corps was transformed into a U.S. Air Force task force in China, with Chennault serving as Brigadier General.
3. How high is the salary of flying tigers?
By the time Chennault returned to China in mid-July 1941, 68 planes, 110 pilots, 150 mechanics, and other logisticians had arrived. Divided into three squadrons: Adam and Eve, Panda and Hell's Angels.
Song Meiling, secretary general of the former War Aviation Committee, believed that if necessary, as long as there was money, she would not be able to buy an airplane, so she came up with a way to save the air force's funds and temporarily stop buying aircraft, as long as the existing aircraft could maintain regular training. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, with the all-out attack of the Japanese army, the main ports along the southeast coast were occupied by the Japanese army, which basically cut off the road to introducing advanced fighters; in addition, many Western countries were worried about stimulating Japan and refused to sell advanced fighters to China, and the price of fighters in this period was greatly increased.
The Nationalist government's fighters and pilots suffered heavy losses in combat, and it took a lot of time to procure aircraft for transport, assembly, test flight, and rearmament, which led to the Chinese Air Force being forced to use many older fighters to take off in the early stages of the war, and prematurely lost a small number of fighters and pilots in the brutal war of attrition. Faced with the dilemma of no soldiers available, Song Meiling managed to contact Chennault, spending more than ten times the salary of the Chinese pilot and several times that of the American pilot to hire the American pilot, and at the same time spending a lot of money to ensure his life.
In terms of input, the Flying Tigers are definitely a pure mercenary force: according to the contract signed by the Republic of China government with American pilots, every pilot can be paid a lot. Pilots earn $600 a month, squad leaders $650 a month, and squadron leaders $700 a month. There is also a $500 bonus for each Japanese aircraft shot down.
Before Chennault retired from the U.S. Army Air Force in 1937, he had the rank of captain and was paid $110 a month. When he was hired as an aviation adviser to the Nationalist government, the minimum monthly wage given to him by the Chinese side was $1,000. In addition, he also packed food, wrapped up, traveled to provide cars and planes, and provided him with an interpreter. These were all paid for by the National Government and were not deducted from Chennault's consultants' salaries.
In comparison, 1 year later, the monthly salary of a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot was only $347 at most. The salaries of U.S. pilots who came to China on that day were not only several times that of Chinese pilots, but also much higher than those of American aviation pilots.
Not only that, the living standards of these Flying Tigers in China were unimaginable to ordinary Chinese at that time. According to Chennault's request, the National Government "shall provide each pilot with a single room ... Separate, separate bathrooms and toilets for all staff... A game room is provided for every fifty people. These rooms should have a card table, a games table or a ping-pong table. "What is actually offered to these people is the service of a star hotel.
Based on the legal tender that had not been depreciated before 1937, the monthly salary of each ordinary pilot of the "Flying Tigers" was about 2,000 yuan. At that time, the highest-ranking colonel pilot in the Chinese Air Force only had a legal salary of 600 yuan per month, and the monthly salary of an ordinary second lieutenant pilot was only 100 yuan. If we take the fiat currency that was greatly depreciated in 1941, the gap between Chinese and American pilots for unequal pay for equal work is even more exaggerated.
If the level of economic development between China and the United States is different and not good year-on-year, then let's take a look at the income situation in the United States at that time.
According to statistics, in 1935, 39% of families or single individuals in the United States had an average annual income of $1500 (an average of $125 per month), 30% had an average annual income of more than $780 (an average of $65 per month), 12% were above $2,500 (an average of $208 per month), 3% were above $5,000 (an average of $416 per month), and 1% were above $10,000 (an average of $833 per month).
Looking at the economic data for the period 1935-1941, the economic growth rate and inflation rate of the United States remained stable, and the fluctuations in currency value and national income were not obvious, and the data during the period can be basically compared horizontally. That is to say, the monthly income of the "Flying Tigers" pilots can be among the top 3% of the income group in the United States (the squadron leader is likely to rank in the top 2%), which is definitely the level of the high-income wealthy class.
On July 3, 1942, the Flying Tigers, which had been established for less than a year, were disbanded. Former members of the "Flying Tigers" may voluntarily choose to join or not join the newly established "23rd Brigade of the U.S. Army Air Corps In China", but the salary will be paid according to the STANDARD of the US Military.
Because of the serious decline in salary and treatment and the problem of China's conditions, although the US military has directly transferred its military status to active service, except for Chennault, the commander who does not fly and is treated favorably in China, who has indeed become the commander of the 14th Air Force, only 5 pilots of the entire Flying Tigers have remained, none of whom have chosen to remain in China, and only a small number of ground crews have stayed to serve in the US military.
During World War II, the pay standard for U.S. Army Air Force ground crews was $30 a month, and the average pilot's salary was only $150 a month. In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Corps pilots on the front line, the highest monthly salary, adding up various field subsidies, attendance subsidies, only $347 a month.
In terms of food standards, the National Government provided the "Flying Tigers" with 550 grams of meat (cattle, pigs or chickens), 4 eggs, 620 grams of vegetables, 310 grams of potatoes, 60 grams of dried vegetables, 380 grams of flour, 60 grams of lard, 180 grams of sugar, 15 grams of salt, 340 grams of fruits, 30 grams of peanuts, 12 grams of tea and other spices per person per day. In order to make authentic Western food, the National Government also deliberately spent foreign exchange to purchase equipment such as Western vegetable stoves and bread stoves.
According to post-mortem statistics, the "Flying Tigers", which existed for less than a year, spent about $8 million on the National Government.
Fourth, what are the results of the Flying Tigers
The "Flying Tigers" declared during the war that from November 1941 to May 1942, a total of 297 Japanese aircraft were destroyed, of which 171 were shot down in the air.
Speaking at the farewell dinner of the "Flying Tigers", Huang Renlin said: "Since its inception, the fighting in Myanmar, Indochina, Thailand and China has lasted for seven months, shooting down 299 Japanese aircraft and injuring 153 aircraft. Four pilots of the American Volunteer Corps were killed in air combat, 6 were killed by anti-aircraft guns, 3 were killed by enemy bombs, 3 were captured, and 10 were killed in air crashes. The U.S. Volunteers lost a total of 12 aircraft in the air battle and 61 on the ground (including 22 fighters that self-destructed during retreat)..."
In the Nationalist government's wartime propaganda, the Number of Flying Tigers destroying enemy aircraft ranged from 268 to 299, while the prize money actually paid for the downing of 296 enemy aircraft.
After the war, some aviation historians have studied and compared according to the deployment of the Japanese Army Air Force on the battlefield of Burma at that time and the japanese war loss data, believing that the "Flying Tigers" will not achieve more than 115 Japanese aircraft, which may also include the achievements of the British, while they themselves lost 80 fighters.
Ana, an expert in aviation history, insisted that according to the three-way data of China, the United States and Japan, the "Flying Tigers" can confirm only 31 battle results, including 14 bombers, 14 Ki-27 (Type 97) fighters and 3 Ki-43 "Falcon" fighters.
In addition, from the Kunming air battle on December 20, 1941 to the disbandment on July 3, 1942, in more than half a year, the "Flying Tigers" made 102 combat sorties, including 26 air battles, 23 bombings, 4 cover bombings, and 10 air interceptions. Measured by the size of the Flying Tigers, the intensity of this operation is low; to achieve the same huge results as mentioned above, it requires amazing efficiency.