While many former AVG personnel returned to the States and rejoined their former outfits, some went on to serve in the South Pacific or Europe. A few later returned to the CBI Theater as combat pilots. One former AVG crew chief, Don Rodewald, became a pilot and completed his CBI tour as a North American P-51 Mustang jockey.

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Major General Chennault retired from the USAAF just a few weeks before the Japanese surrendered in 1945. He was not invited to the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri. Some have speculated that he was deliberately excluded because of his disputatious manner, which chaffed more than a few jealous superior officers. Of course, he was also not a West Point graduate and was not considered to be ‘one of the boys.’

After the war, Chennault helped organize the Chinese Nationalist’s civil airline, known as the CAT, which distributed relief supplies throughout the country. He died of lung cancer in July 1958, the same month in which he was promoted to lieutenant general by Congress.

But the legend of the American Volunteer Group lives on. Those who are knowledgeable about World War II-and many who are not-have heard stories of the group’s incredible victories over the Japanese in a time when it seemed that little else was going right for the Allies in the Pacific. In recent years, historians have questioned some of the AVG records, including numbers of planes shot down. Today, nearly 60 years after Claire Chennault’s improbable group of mercenaries made their mark halfway around the globe from their own country, it’s not always easy to distinguish fact from fiction. One thing, however, is certain: The Flying Tigers should never be forgotten.

This article was written by Ronald V. Regan and originally published in Aviation History Magazine in November 2000.

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