Yunnan begets Flying Tigers, witnesses Sino-US friendship - News

Chinese President Xi Jinping replied on September 12 to a letter from Chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation Jeffrey Greene and Flying Tigers veterans Harry Moyer and Mel McMullen. The Flying Tigers, with its full name being the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, is actually rooted in Yunnan.

An event is held in Kunming, Yunnan province in honor of the Flying Tigers in 2015.

In August 1941, U.S. General Claire Lee Chennault came to Yunnan to form the Flying Tigers. Headquartered in Leiyun, west Yunnan's Ruili, the Flying Tigers were organized into three squadrons in Yangon and Leiyun.

Chennault led two squadrons to Kunming several months later. On December 20, 1941, Kunming was attacked by 10 Japanese war planes from Vietnam, and the Flying Tigers took off and destroyed six of the Japanese planes.

Winning the first battle, the Flying Tigers were widely covered by Kunming-based newspapers that dubbed the planes of the American volunteers "Flying Tigers". The Flying Tigers gained fame overnight.

The Flying Tigers in Yunnan. Xinhua file photo

After the Japanese army blocked the sea passage to China, the temporary Yunnan-Myanmar Road became the main passage for international aid to China, and it was often bombed by Japanese planes.

Back then, the Flying Tigers were also tasked to defend the Yunnan-Myanmar Road. Due to the gap in number, the Flying Tigers pilots needed to take off frequently in response to the Japanese invaders.

In May 1942, the Japanese army invaded Yunnan from Myanmar and occupied the area west of the Nujiang/Salween River. The Flying Tigers were forced to retreat from Leiyun temporarily.

An event is held in Kunming, Yunnan province in honor of the Flying Tigers in 2015.

Later, the Flying Tigers continued to block the Japanese troops preparing to cross the Nujiang River, and they hit hard the Japanese transport teams in west Yunnan’s Baoshan, Tengchong and Longling.

After Japanese army cut off the Yunnan-Myanmar Road, China and the US decided to open an "air-supply corridor" on the original Kunming-Kolkata air route to continue to provide China with anti-Japanese war materials.

This air corridor starts from Assam, east India and ends in Yunnan, west China. Since the route cuts through the high-altitude areas full of undulating snow-capped peaks that look like lumps on the camel backs, it is thus called the Hump air route.

An airport for the Flying Tigers in Yunnan's Dali. File photo

From 1942 to 1945, the Hump route airlifted some 800,000 tons of strategic materials to China, and via the route, China transported over 150,000 tons of materials overseas.

During the four years, the Flying Tigers destroyed more than 2,900 Japanese warplanes, sank 44 Japanese ships and killed 66,700 Japanese invaders, contributing a lot to victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.