Chennault knew the CATF’s only hope for survival was a good offense. While the summer monsoons kept Japanese planes in Northern Burma grounded, Chennault would take the offensive in eastern China. He kept the 11th Bomb Squadron and Major Frank Schiel’s 74th Fighter Squadron at Kunming, and moved Major Edward F. Rector’s 76th Squadron to Kwelin field, Major David Lee “Tex” Hill’s 75th Squadron to Hengyang field, and Major John Alison’s 16th Squadron to Lingling field. Throughout mid-July 1942, the Japanese launched sporadic attacks, trying to learn the true state of the CATF’s defenses. Chennault retaliated by launching B-25s from Kunming and P-40s from the eastern fields on strafing and bombing attacks against Japanese targets at Hankow, Nanchang and Canton.

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The 16 Flying Tiger pilots who remained in China flew in many of those attacks. One Tiger, John Petach, was killed on a mission against Nanchang, China. The rest finished their voluntary extra combat tour on July 18, 1942, and then all but five left China for good. Some returned to the United States to work in civilian airlines, while others went to work for the Chinese national airlines. A few rejoined the U.S. military.

In late July 1942, the Japanese massed fighter and bomber squadrons, including a crack fighter group equipped with the Ki.43 Oscar fighter. They were preparing to mount a major effort to wipe out the CATF.

The Japanese campaign began on the night of July 28, 1942, when night bombers attacked Hengyang field, damaging the 3,000-foot-long crushed-rock-and-mud runway. Chinese coolies had the bomb craters filled in by dawn. Tex Hill, along with Major Gil Bright, John Alison and Captain Robert “Ajax” Baumler, made preparations to deal with another night raid by Japanese bombers, using a plan that Chennault and Hill had worked out.

At 0200 hours on July 29, 1942, Alison and Baumler, alerted to the approach of Japanese bombers, took off from Hengyang in their P-40Es. Hill and Bright stood by on the ground near their Kittyhawks. Alison climbed to 13,000 feet, while Baumler circled at 8,000 feet. Flying “up moon,” so they could see the Japanese bombers silhouetted in the moonlight, Baumler and Alison circled over Hengyang. Alison sighted five Mitsubishi Ki.21 “Sally” bombers as they approached Hengyang field from the north.

Hidden in the darkness, Alison homed in on the bombers’ blue-white exhausts and closed to point-blank range. As the Sallys began their bomb run, Alison went after the lead bomber. “Watch the fireworks!” Alison radioed, and then opened fire. The lead Sally burst into flames, rolled on its back and spun into the ground. Tail gunners on the remaining bombers spotted Alison’s Kittyhawk in the moonlight and returned fire, riddling its fuselage, engine and propeller. Alison blew up the second bomber, damaged a third, then broke off his attack. The remaining aircraft turned back without dropping their bombs. Baumler finished off the third bomber and destroyed the fourth north of Hengyang. Despite the damage to his P-40, Alison, knowing how short the CATF was on spare parts, tried to land at Hengyang field. At 2,000 feet, the Kittyhawk’s engine caught fire, but Alison nursed it toward the Siang Kiang River. “He skimmed over the Chinese junks on the river,” Colonel Scott wrote, “and I saw the splash as the P-40, with its wheels up, hit the Siang Kiang.”

After seeing Alison’s crash, Hill was convinced that his fellow major was dead. A short time later, Alison, having swum clear of his Kittyhawk after landing in the river, returned to Hengyang in a sedan chair carried by Chinese peasants. He suffered only minor burns and a gash on his forehead where it had hit the Kittyhawk’s gunsight. When Scott asked why he’d gotten so close to the Japanese bombers, Alison replied, “I was scared I’d miss one of them.”

On July 30, 1942, the Japanese sent 120 bombers and fighters to knock out the CATF once and for all. Thirty-five Ki.43 Oscars attacked Hengyang, and Hill led 10 P-40s against them. They broke up the attack and shot down 15 of the Japanese planes.

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