CULTURAL LEGACY OF THE FLYING TIGERS & HUMP AIRLIFT

4. Sewn onto the back of leather flying jackets worn the pilots of the American Volunteer Group, the “Blood Chit” or “Xuefu” was worn to identify the “Flying Tigers” to the Chinese people.  The national flag of China identified the pilot as a member of the Chinese Air Force and the message written in the Chinese language stated that the wearer of the jacket was an American airman who had come to China to help in the fighting and requested all Chinese soldiers and civilians to rescue and protect him. Though developed specifically for the pilots of American Volunteer Group, a large number of all the American airmen who flew in China would fly with jackets that carried a Blood Chit.  Today, these leather-flying jackets and their “Blood Chits,” are prized by museums and collectors all over the world.

5.  One of the most recognizable and enduring images of the Second World War, is that of the American Volunteer Group’s Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk and Kittyhawk fighters with their forward fuselages boldly painted with the ferocious teeth and leering eyes of a prowling shark. So appropriate was the mating of the shark’s teeth and eyes paint scheme to the overall appearance of the P-40, that Chennault and his pilot’s, both AVG and USAAF, would usually refer to their P-40’s as “Sharks.”

6. The Flying Tigers Monument in Taishan, China.  Originally dedicated in 1991, then rededicate with the addition of a memorial gate in 1994.  Officially sanctioned by the 14th Air Force Association and primarily funded by Chinese American veterans of the Army Air Forces’ 14th Air Service group and the Army’s 987th Signal Company.  The inscription on the monument states:  Dedicated to the memory of Lt. General Claire Lee Chennault, U.S. Air Force, Commander of the Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group to the China Air Task Force and the 14th Air Force, 1941 – 1945, in the China-Burma-India Theater. Presented by the Chinese American veterans of the 14th Air Force.

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