Chennaults Forgotten Warriors

The second book in the Chennault Trilogy. Beginning with his famed Flying Tigers volunteers before World War II, and extending through his time in the U.S. military during the war.

The 308ths wide-ranging activities through nearly three years of bitter air warfare are described here by reknowned author C.V. Glines.

OUT OR WAR-TORN SKIES, A LEGENDARY PILOT IS BORN Royal Leonard (1905-1962) flew in and out of aviation history - just on the edge of fame. His exploits mirror important developments in the Golden Age of American Aviation (1925-1941) and the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). "If Royal's story were told in a novel," says long-time China pilot and author Felix Smith, "nobody would believe it all could have happened to one man." Royal learned his craft at the West Point of the Air in San Antonio, Texas. As a Western Air Express night mail pilot, he pioneered blind flying along the treacherous Rocky Mountains. As a TWA pilot, he introduced celestial navigation. An early Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) officer, he fought for mail plane safety at the cost of his job. He flew the Lockheed Orion in which Wiley Post and Will Rogers later crashed and attributed their fatal accident to a surprising cause. During the 1930s, a handful of elite pilots were racers. Jackie Cochran selected Royal as a copilot for the MacRobertson Race of the Century between England and Australia. Royal also competed in the Bendix Death Race in a Gee Bee Widow Maker. Before World War II, Royal worked for the Chinese warlord known as the Young Marshal who kidnapped Nationalist dictator Chiang Kai-shek and changed the course of Chinese history. Royal provided Communist political commissar Chou En-lai his first plane ride and later served as Chiang Kai-shek's personal pilot. During the war, Royal's roles were unique. Claire Chennault chose him to command the Flying Tigers Bomber Group. Royal briefed Colonel Jimmy Doolittle on Chinese landing fields for the Tokyo Raid. Royal, Chennault and Madame Chiang Kai-shek planned their own Tokyo bombing raid. Royal survived flying the Skyway to Hell over the Hump for China National Aviation Corporation. No wonder after a perilous flight war correspondent Martha Gellhorn described Royal as her "hero." Author's Biography The author has spent twenty years uncovering a rich trove of private documentary sources about the Forgotten Aviator. Martin is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary and has an M.A. in history from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of California - Berkeley. He is a retired Administrative Law Judge and resides in Sacramento, California with his wife, Carolyn.

Mere months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a volunteer group of American airmen to the Far East, convinced that supporting Chinese resistance against the continuing Japanese invasion would be crucial to an eventual Allied victory in World War II. Within two weeks of that fateful Sunday in December 1941, the American Volunteer Group—soon to become known as the legendary "Flying Tigers"—went into action. For three and a half years, the volunteers and the Army Air Force airmen who followed them fought in dangerous aerial duels over East Asia. Audaciously led by master tactician Claire Lee Chennault, daring pilots such as David Lee "Tex" Hill and George B. "Mac" McMillan led their men in desperate combat against enemy air forces and armies despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Aviators who fell in combat and survived the crash or bailout faced the terrifying reality of being lost and injured in unfamiliar territory. Historian Daniel Jackson, himself a combat-tested pilot, recounts the stories of downed aviators who attempted to evade capture by the Japanese in their bid to return to Allied territory. He reveals the heroism of these airmen was equaled, and often exceeded, by the Chinese soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to return them safely to American bases. Based on thorough archival research and filled with compelling personal narratives from memoirs, wartime diaries, and dozens of interviews with veterans, this vital work offers an important new perspective on the Flying Tigers and the history of World War II in China.

"Aggies of all ages will find it a wonderful read and so will people who are interested in military history, national security or sacrificial service. It is a wonderful book! Don't miss it."--Thomas G. Darling' 54, Major General, USAF (Ret.), Commandant Emeritus

On June 10, 1944, a B-24 Liberator bomber loses its engines following a raid on Japanese forces. The pilot, 2nd Lt. William H. Wallace Jr., sacrifices himself to save the lives of his seven crew members. He leaves behind a wife and an unborn daughter, Judy. Seventy-one years later, Judy receives an email from a stranger who is working on a memorial project for World War II soldiers who served in China. Beyond reading old newspaper accounts and quiet family conversations, Judy has never fully explored what happened to her birth father, but the stranger's questions kindle a deep desire to learn more. Death in Wartime China: A Daughter's Discovery weaves together Bill Wallace's odyssey as an airman with his daughter's journey of reconnection. By turns moving and thought-provoking, Judy's story paints a picture of quiet heroism, friendship that spans oceans, and love that survives death.

The Chinese-American Composite Wing combined Chinese and American pilots, crew, and ground personnel into integrated squadrons

On 24 June 1948 Lucius D. Clay, the Commanding General of the American Forces in Europe, ordered that all disposable transport aircraft should be made available for flights to Berlin. His order marked the beginning of the largest ever humanitarian supply campaign carried out entirely by air transport, the Berlin Airlift. Clay was well aware of the political significance of his decision. The aim was to overcome the blockade mounted by the Soviet Union by supplying the western sectors of the city via air corridors. The political and historical background of the Berlin Airlift have been well rese.

This is the story of a small part of a very large war and some of the people, who all had a burning desire to fly, who were involved in a small way with it. To them, it was a very large way, and they would never forget. It was all "Top Secret". At that time, they had no idea of just how secret it was. About fifty years later, under the "Freedom of Information Act", some articles began to appear in the media, based on their work, and other "Top Secret" World War II assignments. This is their Squadron's story.