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COMMEMORATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER GROUP
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In
honor of the 60th anniversary of the American Volunteer
Group, Roy Grinnell has created a truly stunning image that dramatically
illustrates one of the most crucial moments in the history of aerial
warfare. On
7 May 1942, the powerful vanguard of two invading divisions of the
Japanese 15th Army reached the narrow floor of the rugged Salween Gorge,
gateway to southern China. But
as the Japanese prepared to cross the river on a pontoon bridge, a
Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk of the American Volunteer Group, known
throughout the world as the Flying Tigers, roared into the gorge to drop
a 57O pound bomb on the cliff above the road choked with enemy troops.
Three more P-40E's followed in quick succession to bomb the
Japanese column. The
P-40E's were then joined by four P-40B Tomahawk "top cover"
escorts, which streaked into the Gorge and added the weight of their
sixteen machine guns to the slaughter. For
the next four days, the handful of Flying Tiger pilots flew repeated
sorties to pound columns of Japanese troops and equipment that were in
full retreat towards the Burmese border. The Battle of the Salween Gorge ranks as one of the most decisive
and critical uses of air power to reverse the course of a major ground
offensive in the history aerial warfare, and is remembered as the battle
that saved southern China form invasion. |
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