Flying Tigers

Before Pearl Harbor, American fliers were hired by the Chinese at $500 a month salary and given an additional $500 for each Japanese aircraft shot down. They became known as the "American Volunteer Group" (AVG) and lived by their wits. Never enough ground personnel, the pilots serviced, maintained and at times flew up to 5 combat missions a day. "Something from nothing", the resourceful Col. Clair Chennault, using "every trick out of the book", with only 29 P-40's, convinced the confused Japanese that the AVG had 200 P-40's. These volunteers, anxious to halt the Japanese aggression formed the famous "Flying Tigers".