Book Review: With Chennault in China: A Flying Tiger's Diary (by Robert M. Smith) : WW2

With Chennault in China: A Flying Tiger's Diary, by Robert M. Smith, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, Pa., 1997, $29.95.

The success of the "Flying Tigers" in China in World War II against the Japanese is still a prime example of how determination and organization can sometimes make up for a deficiency of resources. While China was just one part of the so-called China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, it was still a very large area, and it is difficult to see, even with the advantage of hindsight, how the leaders of that time thought that 100 pursuit aircraft and 252 men of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) could have a significant impact on the Japanese Imperial Army in China. Yet during its brief life span from December 1941 to July 1942, this small group is credited with destroying a total of 650 Japanese aircraft. But the most important contribution of the AVG was to demonstrate that the Japanese could be beaten at a time when they were winning everywhere else, significantly slowing the Japanese advance in China.

In this remarkable David-versus-Goliath contest, the Flying Tigers owed their success to Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault's aircraft detection and warning system. Chennault's system could track the progress of a Japanese air attack force and direct the Flying Tigers to their location. Smith, who served as an AVG communicator specialist, also describes his own journey to China–quite a trek at a time when there was no intercontinental air travel–the Chinese he worked with, the unspoiled countryside and his day-to-day efforts to keep the Japanese at bay. As a bonus, the book is filled with rare photographs of AVG personnel in wartime China.

John I. Witmer

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