Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958)[2] was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in World War II.The China-Burma-India theater was strategically essential in order to fix many vital elements of the Imperial Japanese Army on the Chinese mainland to limit their use against Allied forces advancing towards Japan in the two Pacific campaigns.[6] Chennault attended Louisiana State University between 1909 and 1910, having given his birth month as June in order to meet their requirement that enrolling students be aged 16 "at nearest birthday",[6] and underwent ROTC training.[7] At the onset of World War I, he graduated from Officers' School at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, and was transferred to the Aviation Division of the Army Signal Corps[8] on November 27, 1917.[13][14] Poor health (deafness and chronic bronchitis), disputes with superiors, and the fact that he was passed over as unqualified for promotion led Chennault to resign from the military on April 30, 1937; he separated from the service at the rank of major.[16] In late 1937, the Chinese Air Force considered attacking the Japanese home islands with bombers launched from the mainland of China with Chennault in an advisory role.By 1940, seeing that the Chinese Air Force in dire need because of obsolescent aircraft, ill-trained pilots and shortage of equipment, Chiang again sent Chennault, accompanied by Chinese Air Force General Mao Bangchu, to the United States to meet with banker Dr. T. V. Soong in Washington, D.C., with the following goal: "to get as many fighter planes, bombers, and transports as possible, plus all the supplies needed to maintain them and the pilots to fly the aircraft."How to obtain the shopping list of aircraft, aviation supplies, volunteers, and funds for the Bank of China was further discussed in a meeting held at the home of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. with Chennault, Dr. Soong, and General Mao on December 21.Chennault followed shortly after with a promise from the War Department and President Roosevelt to be delivered to Chiang Kai-shek that several shipments of P-40C fighters were forthcoming along with pilots, mechanics, and aviation supplies.At Rangoon, they were unloaded, assembled and test flown by personnel of Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) before they were delivered to the AVG training unit at Toungoo.[Note 2] However, the American attack never took place: The Nationalist Chinese had not built and secured any runways or bases close enough to reach Japan, just as the military had warned.The bombers and crews arrived after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and were used for the war in Burma, as they lacked the range to reach Japan from secure bases in China.[29][30][31] Chennault's 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) – better known as the "Flying Tigers" – began training in August 1941 and was primarily based out of Rangoon, Burma, and Kunming, Yunnan.Chennault's three squadrons used P-40s, and his tactics of "defensive pursuit", formulated in the years when bombers were actually faster than intercepting fighter aircraft, to guard the Burma Road, Rangoon, and other strategic locations in Southeast Asia and western China against Japanese forces.According to historian Carlo D'Este, Chennault "had been nicknamed 'The Hawk' by Time Magazine and described by Antony Head, a member of the Joint Planning Staff, as 'resembling a Red Indian Chief who had just taken somebody's scalp.'"[39] Chennault was supported in his disputes by Soong Mei-ling, Chiang's politically powerful wife, who was one of the richest women in 1930s China[40] and, unlike her husband, fluent in English.[41] For example, Chennault opened up a brothel in Guilin for his pilots and recruited English-speaking prostitutes from Hong Kong who fled to the inland of China to escape the Japanese.[45] Following their victory in the Fourth Battle of Changsha, the Japanese began to advance on the city of Hengyang held by the 10th Chinese Army commanded by General Xue Yue.[46] Channault wanted to airdrop food, weapons and ammunition to the 10th Army but was vetoed by Stilwell on the grounds that to air drop supplies would "set a precedent for further demands that could not be met.Chennault had long argued for expansion of the airlift, doubting that any ground supply network through Burma could provide the tonnage needed to re-equip Chiang's divisions.[49][50][51] In 1951, now retired, Major General Chennault testified and provided written statements to the Senate Joint Committee on Armed Forces and Foreign Relations, which was investigating the causes of the 1949 fall of China to the communists."[53] On July 24, 1953, Chennault met with a number of former U.S. military officers, including Pedro del Valle and Bonner Fellers, to form the Defenders of the American Constitution (DAC).The DAC believed in a "one-worldist conspiracy" led by New York Jewish financiers who controlled international communism, and described their goal as the defense of "the US constitution against enemies and encroachments, both foreign and domestic.His disagreements with and criticisms of the theater commander, General Joseph Stilwell, who was trained in the infantry and seen by Chennault as unappreciative of the capabilities of airpower, are a major portion of the memoirs.[60][61][62] Chennault was twice married and had a total of ten children, eight by his first wife, the former Nell Thompson (1893–1977), an American of British ancestry, whom he met at a high school graduation ceremony and subsequently wed in Winnsboro, Louisiana, on December 24, 1911.General Electric vice-president Gerhard Neumann, a former AVG crew chief and the technical sergeant who repaired a downed Zero for flight, spoke of Chennault's unorthodox methods and of his strong personality.[73][74] A vintage Curtiss P-40 aircraft, nicknamed "Joy", is on display at the riverside war memorial in Baton Rouge, painted in the colors of the Flying Tigers.[citation needed] For many years Chennault was viewed negatively within the People's Republic of China, due to his role against the Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War.
Chennault (disambiguation)Commerce, TexasNew OrleansArlington National CemeteryU.S. Army Air ServiceU.S. Army Air CorpsRepublic of China Air ForceU.S. Army Air ForcesLieutenant GeneralGeneral1st American Volunteer GroupChina Air Task ForceFourteenth Air ForceWorld War ISecond Sino-Japanese WarWorld War IIBurma CampaignChina-Burma-India TheaterArmy Distinguished Service MedalNavy Distinguished Service MedalLegion of MeritDistinguished Flying CrossAir MedalAnna Chennault (née Chen Xiangmei)Flying TigersChinese Nationalist Air ForceUnited States Army Air CorpsJoseph StilwellChiang Kai-shekRooseveltImperial Japanese ArmyLouisianaGilbertWaterproofLouisiana State UniversityFort Benjamin HarrisonArmy Air ServiceEllington Field, TexasAir CorpsAir Corps Tactical SchoolBoeing P-12Montgomery, Alabamaaerobatic teamMaxwell FieldChiangSoong Mei-lingCurtiss H-75International SquadronKagoshimaXu HuanshengSino-Soviet Treaty of 1937Hawk IIIsBoeing 281 PeashootersSoviet volunteer combat aviatorsChinese Air Force AcademyJianqiao AirbaseFall of Shanghai and NanjingKunmingWujiaba AirbaseYunnanschnellbombingterror on the cities of Chengdu and ChongqingHong KongSan FranciscoMao BangchuT. V. SoongWashington, D.C.Chongqing, ChinaHu ShihJesse H. JonesCurtiss P-40 WarhawkBaton RougeBank of ChinaHenry Morgenthau Jr.SS LurlineLos Angeles, CaliforniaRangoonCentral Aircraft Manufacturing CompanyToungooattack on Pearl HarborBurma RoadSoutheast AsiaChinese Air ForceUnited States Army Air Forcescolonelbrigadier generalmajor generalPrime MinisterWinston ChurchillCairo ConferenceCarlo D'EsteAntony HeadGuilinAlan Brookethe HumpOperation Ichi-GoHengyangXue YueGeorge StratemeyerEastern Air CommandLedo RoadGeorge E. StratemeyerChen Xiangmeianti-communistCivil Air TransportAir AmericaNationalist ChinaChinese CommunistsIndochinaKuomintangThai policeUS intelligence communityVietnam WarArmed ForcesForeign RelationsAlbert C. WedemeyerVice AdmiralOscar C. Badger IITruman administrationmoraleforeign aidUS CongressChinese Civil WarHouse Un-American Activities CommitteeKorean WarPedro del Valle