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Title details for The Flying Tigers by Sam Kleiner - Available

The Flying Tigers

The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War Against Japan

by Sam Kleiner
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The thrilling story behind the American pilots who were secretly recruited to defend the nation’s desperate Chinese allies before Pearl Harbor and ended up on the front lines of the war against the Japanese in the Pacific. 
Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma. In the wake of the disaster at Pearl Harbor this motley crew was the first group of Americans to take on the Japanese in combat, shooting down hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the skies over Burma, Thailand, and China. At a time when the Allies were being defeated across the globe, the Flying Tigers’ exploits gave hope to Americans and Chinese alike.
 
Kleiner takes readers into the cockpits of their iconic shark-nosed P-40 planes—one of the most familiar images of the war—as the Tigers perform nail-biting missions against the Japanese. He profiles the outsize personalities involved in the operation, including Chennault, whose aggressive tactics went against the prevailing wisdom of military strategy; Greg “Pappy” Boyington, the man who would become the nation’s most beloved pilot until he was shot down and became a POW; Emma Foster, one of the nurses in the unit who had a passionate romance with a pilot named John Petach; and Madame Chiang Kai-shek herself, who first brought Chennault to China and who would come to visit these young Americans.
A dramatic story of a covert operation whose very existence would have scandalized an isolationist United States, The Flying Tigers is the unforgettable account of a group of Americans whose heroism changed the world, and who cemented an alliance between the United States and China as both nations fought against seemingly insurmountable odds.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 15, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780399564147
      • File size: 23627 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780399564147
      • File size: 23682 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 2, 2018
      This is a well-told amalgamation of the best stories about the American Volunteer Group (AVG), pilots who flew combat missions against the Japanese as contracted civilians under the authority of the Chinese government during World War II. In 1937, Col. Claire L. Chennault is recruited away from an unsatisfying Army career by Mayling Soong, the wife of Chinese political leader Chiang Kai-shek, to consult on the development of the Chinese Air Force. When the Second Sino-Japanese war breaks out in 1937, he recruits other talented American pilots, such as David Lee “Tex” Hill and Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, to fight for the Chinese. Thus they’re all in place to take on the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and their victories give hope to the Allies. Though it’s a stretch to claim this story is “untold,” given the profusion of other books and a John Wayne movie about the Flying Tigers, this account is informative, action-packed, and easy to read. It is a good introduction to the subject for readers not familiar with the Flying Tigers story, but those who already know their aviation history won’t find anything new here. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.

    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2018

      In the late 1930s interwar period, Japan began to invade China. America, officially neutral, aided the Allies in covert ways. Into this murky gloom stepped Claire Lee Chennault, a nearly washed up pilot. Scholar Kleiner unlocks the secrets of the First American Volunteer Group (AVG), commonly known as the Flying Tigers, using newly discovered pilots' diaries and combat reports. The last work about the unit was Jack Samson's Flying Tiger (2011). Here, lawyer and writer Kleiner tells the story of the AVG as led by Chennault. The pilot's military career included setting up the army's flight demonstration teams, which influenced his tactical training of the AVG. In 1937, Chennault went to China under a three-year contract with the Chinese government, working closely with leader Chiang Kai-shek and wife Madame Chiang to survey and modernize the Chinese air force. Chennault's persistent lobbing of Franklin Roosevelt and his aides led the unit to receive their signature Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, painted with a shark face to strike fear to enemies. VERDICT Kleiner illuminates the battles, personalities, and personal lives of the Flying Tigers, a band of rag-tag pilots sure to enthrall general readers and military history buffs.--Harry Willems, Great Bend, KS

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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