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American Angels

While the U.S. initially abstained from battle in the Twentieth Century's two greatest conflicts, the Lafayette Escadrille, Royal Air Force (RAF) Eagle Squadrons, and Flying Tigers served as all-American volunteer fighter units in foreign air forces. During World War I the Escadrille flew with the French and in World War II the Eagles signed on with the British while the Tigers fought alongside the Chinese. As WWII broke out across Europe and Asia, the United States remained a neutral country. However, many of her pilots did not and volunteered to fly and fight with foreign Air Forces against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Before the United States officially entered World War II, many young Americans volunteered to serve in foreign air arms. Whether flying for Britain in the Eagle Squadrons or in the American Volunteer Group supporting Chiang Kai-shek in China, those who served as fighter pilots were the spearhead of American intervention, and they quickly became folk heroes.

Their similarities, however, were only superficial, demonstrated particularly during their formation periods. Foreign need, bureaucratic resistance, and unit support highlighted the groups' efforts to gain foreign or American approval. The recruiting process differed in support, method, and volunteers' motivations and qualifications.

Publicity informed men of the Escadrille, and volunteers crossed the Atlantic predominately motivated by romantic idealism. Word of mouth carried the RAF recruiting drive and pilots desiring to fly Spitfire and Hurricane fighters flocked to the call. Hired Government recruiters enlisted the Tigers, and the trip to China was an opportunistic adventure to fulfill a military career, fly fighters, earn money, or see an "enchanted land." While the Escadrille and Eagles were selective and completely incorporated into foreign air forces, the Tigers enlisted whoever would join and were civilian soldiers of fortune.

Finally, the background of the men and the level of support affected the training process. The Escadrille flyers were predominantly college educated, upper-class individuals who entered a complete aviation training program in France. The Eagles were experienced pilots, mostly from blue-collar backgrounds, and underwent an intermediate "refresher" training program before entering advanced fighter training. The Flying Tigers were all former military aviators and directly entered advanced training, although many have never flown a fighter.

Before the United States entered the war in 1917, American sympathy for the Allies took many forms. One of the most famous was the Lafayette Escadrille, which started in April, 1916 as the Escadrille Américaine. As this name prompted German diplomatic complaints, it was renamed the Escadrille Lafayette. The fame of its thirty-eight American pilots exceeded their tangible impact; in 20 months, they downed 57 German planes, a solid, if unspectacular achievement. In February, 1918, the Lafayette Escadrille was absorbed into the U.S. forces as the 103rd Pursuit Squadron. (Many Americans flew with other French units; in general, these volunteers were called the Lafayette Flying Corps.)

Dr. Edmund L. Gros, director of the American Ambulance Service, and Norman Prince, an American expatriate already flying with the French, got the squadron started. The French authorities stationed them at Luxeuil and provided them with a CO, Captain Georges Thénault, and some Nieuports. They selected an Indian head as their insignia, painted on the fuselages of their Nieuports.

In the spirit of the Lafayette Escadrille of the first Great War, American pilots formed American Volunteer Groups or AVG's on foreign soil. Groups such as the Flying Tigers in China and the Eagle Squadron in Great Britain became household names and their exploits the stuff of legends. Their deeds quickly assumed legendary proportions in the American press as well as in other nations.

The men who volunteered for the RAF, Eagles and non-Eagles, are sometimes accused of being mercenaries, a charge'that was also leveled at the members of the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I and the Flying Tigers of China fame. If one takes the very parochial view that anyone who joins the military of a foreign country or fights in a war in which his or her own nation is not involved is a mercenary, then the Eagles, as well as the other groups mentioned, were mercenaries. If, on the other hand, a mercenary is defined as someone motivated by the desire or need for money to join a foreign military establishment or fight for an alien nation, then neither the Lafayette Escadrille nor the Eagles qualify, nor do those Americans who joined other squadrons of the RAF. After all, they were paid from about $45 to $100 a month, most of which was spent on subsistence. Any one of them could have bettered that pay in the United States. In fact, one of the reasons mentioned by so many Eagles for being glad to transfer to the American forces when the opportunity came was the significant increase in salary.

So it seems impossible to responsibly charge that the Eagles were mercenaries. The Flying Tigers are another story. Many of them were motivated by money, often a ten-fold increase over their US military pay - the money was one of the selling points in recruiting for the American Volunteer Group. Obviously, not all the Flying Tigers were so motivated, but the charge of mercenary can be leveled at members of that organization with much more validity than at the Eagles.

The Eagles, in fact, represented their country and its people in the war effort before the United States officially entered the war. Americans were hungry for news about the war in Europe, and most had strong feelings concerning the conflict, even though these thoughts were often tempered by a genuine fear of the United States becoming involved in the war. The tremendous amount of press coverage given all aspects of the war in Europe, and the Eagles in particular, reflects that spirit. So the three squadrons gave Americans some "homegrown" heroes at a time when they had precious few. Even if the United States could not be in the war, the Eagles were, carrying the American flag to the besieged British.

The Eagles also served the United States well in the view of the British. For the Americans in the RAF, and the Eagle Squadrons in particular, were the forerunners of that large force of Americans that every Briton hoped would soon come to his country's aid in the struggle against Germany. Equally important, they provided a very positive presence - very different from that of many Americans who came later - as members of the RAF, accepting British ways and integrating themselves into the society as best they could. As long as there were Americans fighting for England, there was hope - and in war hope is precious. The ties that the Eagles formed with Britain have proved long-lasting: in 1986, then-Prime Minister Thatcher personally dedicated a memorial to the Eagles in Grosvenor Square in London, and the Eagles receive absolutely royal treatment whenever they return to their "other homeland."

The reaction of the US government to the Eagles was also instructive to both the US populace and the British. By choosing to ignore the legal restrictions against American citizens moving through a war zone, joining a foreign military, and even training openly in the United States, the government was making a statement whose meaning was not lost to people on either side of the Atlantic. The lack of any mass objection by the American public to having Americans in the RAF also helped encourage the British as they waited and hoped for the United States to enter the war.

Over the years, some people have played down the Eagles' contribution to the American military, but that contribution was significant. When the three Eagle Squadrons became the Fourth Fighter Group of the Eighth Air Force, months before there were American trained and equipped fighter squadrons in Europe, they helped provide the American press and people with the morale and confidence needed to sustain the effort that eventually led to the defeat of Germany. How ironic that a group of men who were not able to earn US Army pilot's wings through the established programs were among the first to wear those wings. They led all the American fighter pilots into battle and provided the nucleus for the overwhelming force that eventually dominated the skies over Europe.

It is ironic too that, among the flying units in World War II, the Eagles as a group, both while in the RAF and after transfer to the American service, were among those who made the greatest sacrifice for the cause of freedom, losing nearly half their men. Few other flying units lost so great a share of their personnel to the enemy over the course of the war.

The handful of American mercenaries who scorched earth and sky in defense of China were officially known as the American Volunteer Group (AVG), but, of course, are best remembered as the "Flying Tigers"-the English translation of Fei Hou. The nickname was bestowed by the grateful Chinese after the American pilots attacked a large number of Japanese fighters over Kunming on December 20, 1941. In just seven months of intense aerial combat, the AVG earned a lasting niche in aviation history, reportedly destroying nearly 300 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only 69 planes.

President Roosevelt drafted and signed a secret executive order allowing for the recruitment of U.S. military aviators and ground personnel for the American Volunteer Group. A band of recruiters, including some retired U.S. Navy commanders, combed Army, Navy and Marine bases looking for volunteers with a sense of adventure and some aviation experience. In exchange for signing a one-year contract, they were told that when their time was up they could go back to their old ranks.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, not a man for idle praise, cabled the governor of Burma in 1942: "The victories of these Americans over the rice paddies of Burma are comparable in character, if not in scope, with those won by the Royal Air Force over the hop fields of Kent in the Battle of Britain."

The aircraft flown by the AVG members, though called P-40s, were primarily Curtiss Hawk 81-A3s, the export version of the P-40. It was slower than some of its peers, including the British Supermarine Spitfire, the German Messerschmitt Me-109 and the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M "Zero." It was also heavier and less maneuverable than the Japanese aircraft and could barely function as a fighter above 25,000 feet.

Unfortunately, the Army brass subsequently used some strong language and tactics in an effort to downplay the AVG's accomplishments in the first half of 1942. Many former AVG members were infuriated by rumors of their flamboyant behavior during their one-year tours. Despite pleading by Chennault, only five former AVG pilots and some 30 ground personnel stayed with him to train the inexperienced aviators who were now coming to Asia to join the fight. Most of the AVG pilots returned to America to rejoin their old military units. Others stayed on in the Far East and piloted Curtiss C-46 Commando and Douglas C-47 "Gooney Bird" cargo planes from India to China over the Hump.

In nearly seven months of relentless combat (December 18, 1941, to July 4, 1942), the AVG men and machines had shot down 296 confirmed enemy planes and 300 more probables. Japan lost 1,500 pilots, bombardiers, navigators and gunners in air combat. The AVG also destroyed 573 bridges, 1,300 riverboats and innumerable road vehicles and killed thousands of Imperial Japanese army soldiers.

The total losses to the AVG were 69 planes and 25 pilots. Two crew chiefs, including mechanic John E. Fauth, were killed during Japanese bombing raids at various airfields. On the day the group was disbanded, there were just 30 wellused P-40s left to fly.

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