The American Volunteer Group (AVG), aka The Flying Tigers, are legendary. What young boy growing up in the 1940s and 50s has not been enthralled with John Wayne and the movie, Flying Tigers ? Great stuff. Most Americans believe the AVG was fighting the Japanese months, if not years, before Pearl Harbor. The truth is a little more prosaic. They flew their first combat mission 3 days after Pearl Harbor and made their first claim only on Dec 20th, 1941.
Daniel Ford originally published this book in the early 1990s. He did this with official records of the group from US archival sources as well as Japanese historians who worked for years on official Japanese records and first person AVG and Japanese stories to flesh out these records.
Ford was attacked, endlessly, by "keepers of the legend" as well as former AVG members still alive. The reason is he lent a truth and perspective. The AVG is officially credited with over 290 Japanese aircraft shot down over Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and China. Official Japanese records credit them with about that amount. Over the years, the stories and accomplishments grew. The AVG claimed they could only be credited with half the amount they actually shot down because so many were behind Japanese lines. So they claimed at least 600, then it has grown to close to 1,000. The AVG people claim that official Japanese records are lies, perpetuated to this day.
It is a shame this goes on. Their record, even with less kills, is one to be proud of. The AVG fought courageously with an aircraft inferior in some ways to Japanese machines, in appalling living conditions with an ally, Chang-Kai-shek, who did not really care about the war, per se, but only holding his power and position against the Chinese communists in the show-down to come. The AVG's record deserves to be a legend, but not quite the John Wayne type.
Ford laid all this out in his first edition in a very readable of historical book. This second edition corrects some errors, adds information and comments on his on-going controversy with the keepers of the AVG legend. If this interests you at all, buy this book, admire their accomplishments and admire Dan Ford for his ground-breaking work.