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5. Chennault with pilots of the Fourteenth Air Force's 51st Fighter Group in front of a north American P-51 B Mustang fighter. | |||
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6. Major General Claire L. Chennault, as Commander of the United States Army Air Force's Fourteenth Air Force. | |||
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7. Fourteenth Air Force fighter ace, Don Lopez is seen in the cockpit of his North American P-51C Mustang fighter. The future Air Force test pilot and Deputy Director of the National Air and Space Museum served with the 75th Squadron of the famed 23rd Fighter Group. | |||
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8. Major Lauren "Duke" Reynolds is seen in front of his Northrup P-61 Black
Widow night fighter in Chendu, China, summer 1945. |
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9. A U.S. Army Air Force Consolidated B-24D Liberator bomber of the 308th (Heavy) Bomb Group is photographed at Kunming, China in early1943. At the time this photograph was taken, the Liberator bomber, armed with up to 8,000 lbs of bombs and defended by ten .50 caliber machine guns, was the single most powerful Allied weapon serving in China, and would remain so until the arrival of the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the U.S. Army Air Force’s XX Bomber Command in Chengdu, China in mid-May 1944. |
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10. Pilots of the 23rd Fighter Group’s 75th Fighter Squadron are photographed on, and in front of one of their P-40N Warhawk fighters at Chihking, China. Among these young pilots are fighter ace and future Air Force Brigadier General Wiltz “Flash Segura, standing at left, and fighter ace and future Air Force Lt. Colonel and Deputy Director of the U,S, National Air and Space Museum, Donald S. Lopez, seated second from right. Also seen in this photograph is Joshua “Chief” Sanford, seated first on the left, who was one of a number of Native American pilots and air crewmen who served in China during the Second World War. | |||
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11. Captain Glen Beneda of the 23rd Fighter Group’s 76th Fighter Squadron, is photographed in front of his P-40 Warhawk fighter. In May 1944, flying a newly arrived P-51B Mustang fighter, Captain Beneda was shot down while escorting a force of bombers that were attacking targets near the city of Hankow, China. Escaping from his burning P-51 fighter, Beneda safely parachuted to the ground, where he found himself deep inside Japanese occupied territory. However, instead of being captured by the Japanese Army, the young pilot was rescued by guerilla soldiers of the Chinese Communist 4th Route Army. Beneda would spend nearly three months with the guerilla fighters, sharing their dangers and joining with them in attacks on Japanese installations and supply lines. The Chinese guerillas went to extraordinary lengths to insure Beneda’s safety, and to see that he was returned to his unit. |
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12. Captain Harlin S. Vidovich of the 23rd Fighter Group’s 74th Fighter Squadron. Captain Vidovich was an American Indian of whose Grandfather was the legendary American Indian leader Wovoka, who founded the Ghost Dance religion. When Captain Vidovich was born, Wovoka had a vision that his grandson would someday become a great aerial warrior. While fighting in China, Vidovich would be officially credited with 2. 5 confirmed and 3 probable aerial victories, and earned the respect of his fellow airmen for being a ferocious ground attack pilot. Unfortunately for the 14th Air Force, Vidovich was killed in a bad-weather flying accident in mid-January1944. |
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13. The P-40N Warhawk fighter of Captain Harlin S. Vidovich, seen parked among other aircraft of the 23 rd Fighter Group’s 74th Fighter Squadron Kweilin, China, in late 1943. Note that Vidovich’s aircraft has been fitted with oversized wheels and tyres, a common field-modification for China- based P-40N’s. | |||
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14. College football great, turned 14th Air Force fighter pilot, Tom Harmon is pictured in front of his Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter. Harmon was a member of the 449th Fighter Squadron. Initially assigned to the 23rd Fighter Group, the 449th Fighter squadron was the only P-38 fighter squadron to operate in China during the Second World War. In October 1943, the 449th Fighter Squadron was transferred away from the 23rd Fighter Group and reassigned to the newly arrived 51st Fighter Group | |||
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15.The crew of a B-25H Mitchell bomber of the 341st Bomb Group’s 11th Bomb Squadron, is photographed with there aircraft at Kweilin, China in early 1945. With a forward firing battery of eight nose-mounted .50 caliber machine guns and one 75 mm cannon, the H model of the B-25 was a devastating ground attack aircraft. This awesome firepower could be further augmented by training the two .50 caliber machine guns of the bomber’s upper turret to the forward position, thus giving these hard-hitting attack aircraft a total of ten forward firing .50 caliber machine guns. |
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16. A B-24 Liberator bomber of the 308th Bomb Group’s 375Bomb Squadron is seen during an attack on a Japanese controlled bridge on the Yellow River. |
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17. Curtiss P-40N Warhawk fighters of the U.S. Army Air Force’s 51st Fighter Group’s 25th Fighter Squadron are photographed on the squadron’s flight line at Paoshan, China in late-1944. The 51st Fighter Group was originally assigned to duty with the Tenth Air Force and based in Assam, India for operations in Burma, however in September 1943, the 51st Fighter Group was reassigned to the Fourteenth Air Force as the main component of the 69th Composite Wing and deployed to Chinese airfields where their primary mission became the defense of the Hump Airlift airfields. The 25th Fighter Squadron was known as the “Assam Draggins,” and instead of the well known shark’s mouth nose art worn by the majority of all China based P-40’s, the forward fuselages of the “Assam Dragins’”P-40’s were painted with the leering mouth and two large fangs of a mythical dragon. | |||
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18. Major General Claire L. Chennault, is photographed in front of a North American P-51 Mustang fighter of the 14th Air Forces’ 51st Fighter Group in Kunming, China. | |||
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