DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the messenger. Now, Hunt County, Texas has given the world a fair number of notable things, but I'd argue none quite as remarkable as the man born here in 1890 — Claire L. Chennault.
You may not know the name at first. But say "Flying Tigers," and something stirs. Chennault had already put in what you'd call a pioneer flying career by the time the world came calling again.
He had retired. Man had earned it. But in 1937, General Chiang Kai-Shek asked him — personally asked him — to help China develop an air force capable of standing up to threatening raids by Japan.
That is the kind of ask a certain type of man cannot refuse. Then World War II spread across the map like a brushfire, and Chennault received permission from the United States to go find a corps of American airmen to help train the Chinese. What he assembled was something history would struggle to forget.
A total of 252 men answered that call — 87 pilots and 165 ground personnel — forming what became known as the American Volunteer Group. Now. The name. "Flying Tigers." Here's the wry part of this whole tall tale — that famous name came from a misunderstanding.
The sharks' teeth painted on the noses of those aircraft got lost somewhere in translation, and "Flying Tigers" is what stuck. The Tigers organized themselves into three squadrons with names that tell you something about the spirit of the men involved: "Adam and Eve," "Panda Bears," and "Hell's Angels." Supported alongside them were the expert pilots of the China National Aviation Corps, a daring supply transport group that kept the whole operation breathing. Now Chennault had studied Japanese air tactics — studied them the way a chess player studies an opponent — so thoroughly, so carefully, that when the fighting came, his tiny band officially destroyed 539 enemy aircraft.
While losing only 90 of their own. Sit with those numbers a moment. During 1941 and 1942, they checked Japan's invasion of China.
Then, their work as a volunteer group done, they joined regular units. And one more thread worth pulling before we leave Hunt County behind: Jack Cornelius, also a native of Commerce, a close friend of Chennault's, was a member of that first pursuit squadron of the Tigers. Two men from the same small Texas town, half a world away, flying together against the odds.
Chennault was born here in 1890 and died in 1958. The world in between those two years is something else entirely.
What the marker says
(1890-1958) Organizer-commander of the famous "Flying Tigers" of the China-Burma-India theater in World War II. An outstanding air strategist, Chennault had retired from a pioneer flying career when, in 1937, he was asked by Gen. Chaing Kai-Shek to help China develop an air force to combat threatening raids by Japan. Four years later, with World War II spreading, he received permission from the U. S. to seek a corps of American airmen to help train the Chinese. A total of 252 men-- 87 pilots and 165 ground personnel-- joined the "American volunteer group." Its popular name resulted from a misunderstanding of the sharks' teeth painted on the noses of the aircraft. The Tigers formed three squadrons-- "Adam and Eve," "Panda Bears," and "Hell's Angels"-- supported by the expert pilots of the China National Aviation Corps, a daring supply transport group. So effectively had Chennault studied Japanese air tactics that his tiny band officially destroyed 539 enemy aircraft while losing only 90 itself. During 1941-1942, they checked Japan's invasion of China, then joined regular units. Jack Cornelius, also a native of Commerce and a close friend of Chennault's, was a member of the first pursuit squadron of the Tigers.