Chennault (Chennault)

Commander, American Volunteer Corps, China Air Force. During the period from 1937 to 1945, we fought against Japanese aggression with the people of China.

Originally named claire lee chennault, 1893 was born in a small farmer's family in Texas, USA. After graduating from high school, he entered Clifford Aviation School and achieved excellent results. When World War I broke out, Chennault entered the military academy in Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for training. Three months later, he became a reserve lieutenant and was transferred to the Air Force Department of the Army Signal Corps.

19 18 Autumn, Chennault went to Mitchell Airport on Long Island as the adjutant of the 46th Fighter Corps. He used his spare time to learn to fly, overcame many difficulties and obstacles, and finally mastered the flying technology, and obtained the position of pilot at 1920, thus turning into a formal flight and forming an indissoluble bond with the blue sky. 1923, Chennault was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as the squadron leader of 19 destroyer squadron. 1930, Chennault was sent to the Air Force Tactical School in Langley, Virginia. After graduation, I worked as a fighter tactical instructor in the aviation tactical school at Maxwell base in Alabama.

In 1930s, Italian military theorist Du Hei's air combat theory of "bombing first" swept the world air force, and no one cared about fighter planes. Chennault is skeptical about this theory. He firmly believes that modern air combat can not be without fighters, and fighters will play an important role like bombers in future wars. From 65438 to 0935, he compiled and published the book The Role of Defensive Pursuit and expounded his own views. After the publication of this book, its tactical theory has a certain influence in the US Army Aviation, but it has not attracted the attention of the military upper level.

Chennault is skilled, but his journey is bumpy. His comrades-in-arms are all respected as school officials, but he is 46 years old and still carries the junior officer's card on his shoulder. For a competitive person, his mood can be imagined. He was in poor health at that time. So his boss followed suit and retired him as a captain in April 1937. Just then, his good friend Hobok wrote from China and asked him if he would like to work in China. He said yes. In early April, he set out from San Francisco for China.

1937 On May 29th, Chennault set foot on the land of China. On June 3rd, Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling met him. Song Meiling studied in Georgia, USA. Chennault hit it off with her. At this time, Song Meiling served as the Secretary-General of the Aviation Committee and actually led the China Air Force. Song asked him to be her professional consultant and gave him two T- 13 trainers to inspect the current situation of China Air Force. Through investigation, Chennault learned that there were 500 planes in the name of the National Government, but in fact only 9 1 plane could take off and fight.

When Chennault was about to finish his inspection of China Air Force, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out. War is an opportunity to test his air combat theory, and he is determined to realize his ambition in the blue sky. He immediately sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, expressing his willingness to serve in any post within his power. Jiang called back and accepted Chennault's request for voluntary service, asking him to "go to Nanchang to host the final combat training of the fighter group there." According to Chiang Kai-shek's request, Chennault recruited some American pilots and formed the 14 Volunteer Bomber Squadron.

August 1937, the battle of Songhu began. The next day, Chennault sent a plane to the war. Although the bomber missed the target, the China fighter won the air battle that day. 10 In June, 937, there were only10 planes left in China, and many China pilots were killed. Chennault managed to hire four Frenchmen, three Americans, 1 Dutch and 1 German, plus six surviving Chinese bomber pilots to form an "international squadron". They successfully attacked several enemy-occupied targets, causing Japanese panic. But one afternoon, Japanese planes attacked the airport, causing all the planes of the international squadron to be blown up.

According to Chennault's three-month contract with China Aviation Commission, his consultant term will expire in 10. Later, Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling invited him to stay in China for War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and he resolutely stayed. They didn't talk about renewing the contract either, but only paid him a certain salary every month. At that time, the US government adopted a "neutral" attitude towards Japan's war of aggression against China. Knowing that there were American advisers in China to help China, the Japanese demanded that the United States order all American air force personnel in China to leave China. When the State Council told Chennault about this situation, Chen replied categorically: When the last Japanese leaves China, I will leave China happily.

1937 12, Nanjing fell, and Chennault withdrew to Hankou with the army. At this time, China's air force was almost lost, so it had to rely on Soviet planes to defend the city. 1938 April 29th is the birthday of the Japanese emperor. Chennault and the air force commanders of China and the Soviet Union decided not to carry out air strikes on this day and decided to punish the Japanese aggressors. In order to lure the Japanese plane to attack, Chen asked the Sino-Soviet plane to leave Hankou and fly to Nanchang. After taking off, the plane circled over Wuhan, so that people (including Japanese spies) could see their evacuation, and then sneaked back to the airport that night. On the morning of the 29th, the Japanese plane took off from Wuhu Airport, and the bombers flew over Wuhan under the cover of fighter planes. Chennault noticed in advance that the Japanese plane had only one round-trip gasoline from Wuhu to Hankou, so he sent 20 fighters to stall the Japanese fighters in the south of the city, which consumed a lot of gasoline. The city arranged for 40 Soviet planes to ambush at high altitude. When the Japanese plane returned to Wuhu, the bombers and fighters were separated. Japanese fighters dare not protect bombers because of lack of fuel. A team of China and Soviet planes attacked bombers and a team of attack fighters, shooting down 36 Japanese planes, and only three escaped. This is the fiasco of the emperor's birthday.

1In August, 938, according to Song Meiling's request, Chennault went to Kunming to organize an aviation school to train China pilots. He gave strict training to the students under the extremely harsh conditions in Kunming, and many of them escaped halfway.

After 1940, the Soviet Air Force's personnel assisting China were withdrawn one after another, and the China Air Force was at an absolute disadvantage in number, especially the lack of aircraft. At this time, the ratio of China Air Force to Japanese aircraft was 1: 53, and Japan completely controlled China's air superiority. 1On May 20th, 940, Chiang Kai-shek summoned Chennault and asked him to go to America to get as many war materials as possible. After Chennault returned to the United States, although he didn't have much weight in American military and political circles, he preached the China people's war of resistance and sought assistance from all sides. Two assistants of President Roosevelt were moved by Chennault's lobbying and agreed to Chennault's plan to establish an air force in front of Roosevelt. Roosevelt decided to provide military assistance to China to stall the Japanese in China. Chennault finally got 100 P-40 fighters after many twists and turns. 1941April 14, President Roosevelt signed an order to allow reserve officers and men who left the army and naval air force to join the American Volunteer Corps in China. 1941When Chennault returned to China in mid-July, 68 aircraft,1150 pilots,150 mechanics and other logistics personnel had arrived in China.

1 941August1day, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to formally establish the China Air Force American Volunteer Brigade and appointed Colonel Chennault as the brigade commander. Chennault immediately began special training for members of the volunteer team. The conditions were very difficult at that time, and finally several people resigned. After several months of training, the technical and tactical level of volunteers has been greatly improved. 194 1 year1kloc-0/month, Chennault organized the American Volunteer Brigade into three squadrons. 1 Team is "Adam and Eve Team", and all planes of this team have Adam chasing Eve around the apple. The second team is the Panda Team. The team's plane is painted with cartoons of pilots, not pandas. The third team is "Hell Angels", and the planes of this team are painted with naked angels with different postures.

194 1 65438+February 7th, Chennault led 1 squadron and 2nd squadron to Kunming. On the 20th, a group of Japanese planes flew in the direction of Yunnan, and all the planes at Kunming Airport took off to meet them and made a good start. Japan invaded 10 aircraft, six of which were shot down and three were injured. The volunteer team did not lose 1 plane. The success of the first battle of the volunteers gave great encouragement to the Kunming people who were bombed by Japanese planes. In the evening, all walks of life in Kunming held a celebration for the American Volunteer Team. The front page of the newspaper reported the battle, saying that the plane of the American Volunteer Team was the "Flying Tigers", and the Flying Tigers became the name of the Volunteer Team from then on. 12 On February 23rd, Chennault sent the third squadron to Yangon to fight the British. In the air battle of more than two months, American and British warplanes fought against Japan for 3 1 time and shot down 2 17 Japanese planes.

1February 3, 942, Song Meiling called Chennault and asked him to be the commander of China Air Force, and his rank was promoted to brigadier general. Chennault jumped from a little-known retired army aviation captain to a news figure all over the world. In the United States, after the Pacific War began, the news on various battlefields was bad, and the war was in a dark moment. At this time, the news that Chennault led a small group of "soldiers and oil men" to win brilliant victories suddenly caused a sensation and excitement among Americans. Chennault suddenly became a well-known hero in the United States and won the reputation of "Flying Tiger General".

& ltP 1942 In May, Japanese troops invaded Myanmar and then Yunnan. In order to prevent the Japanese from crossing the Nujiang River, Chennault commanded the volunteer army to attack continuously. A group of Japanese troops who attacked Japanese convoys in Baoshan, Tengchong and Longling areas and tried to cross the Nujiang River were almost wiped out by the bombing of volunteers. In June, Chennault led the headquarters and two squadrons to Guilin. 12, the volunteers shot down 8 Japanese planes in one fell swoop over Guilin, only 1 was injured. The people of Guilin rejoiced and raised 20,000 yuan to comfort American pilots. After the Japanese army was beaten, the pilot panicked and asked for more planes.

1on July 3, 942, Chennault dissolved the American Volunteers according to the orders of the U.S. War Department and Chiang Kai-shek, and formed the 23rd Brigade mainly composed of some volunteers under the U.S. Army 10 Aviation Corps. American Volunteers fought in China, Myanmar, India and zhina for more than seven months, and at the cost of losing 12 aircraft in the air and destroying 6 1 aircraft on the ground, they achieved the record of shooting down about 150 enemy aircraft and destroying 297 enemy aircraft. The American Volunteers lost 26 pilots.

After the dissolution of<p & gtAVG, the planes and personnel left by the team were merged into the 23rd Brigade of the US Army Air Force, and together with the 16 fighter squadron stationed in China, they formed the US Air Force Task Force in China, belonging to the US Army 10 Air Force. Chennault was appointed commander of the US air task force in China, with the rank of brigadier general. After learning that the Volunteers were disbanded, the Japanese army transferred the 3rd Flying Division originally in Nanyang to China in an attempt to annihilate the newly formed US Air Force. In July, the Japanese Air Force attacked the American Air Force Base in Central China by virtue of its numerical superiority. In the face of several times his own enemy, Chennault still used the air guerrilla tactics of the volunteers to attack the Japanese army by surprise and maneuver. By the end of July, two Japanese fighters and 12 bombers had been eliminated. I lost five fighters and 1 bomber. The initial test of the task force shattered the Japanese attempt to annihilate the Huamei Air Force in one fell swoop, and also showed that the team had the ability to deal with the Japanese Air Force several times its own. & lt/p & gt；

& ltp>3 In March 1943, 10, the United States Army Air Force will be organized into the United States Army Air Force 14, and Chennault will be promoted to commander of Major General. After Chennault came to power, he urged President Roosevelt to strengthen the air force in China, regain the air superiority in the battlefield in China, and wait for an opportunity to attack the Japanese mainland. He clashed with General Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the China Theater of the US Army, on issues such as operational planning and command. Chiang Kai-shek was also dissatisfied with Stilwell, so Chennault got the support of Chiang Kai-shek. In order to get Chennault out of Stilwell's command, Chiang Kai-shek called Roosevelt on July 12, demanding that Chennault be promoted to China Theater Air Force Chief of Staff. Roosevelt compromised and agreed to let Chennault be the chief of staff of China Air Force (instead of China Theater). & lt/p & gt；

With the expansion of command authority, Chennault began to launch planned offensive actions. Since late July, the United States and Japan have launched a fierce air battle in central China for air superiority. Chennault commanded the US Air Force and relied on "complex information and communication networks". In the eight-day war in late July alone, the US military shot down 62 Japanese planes, losing only three. After mastering the air superiority, the US Air Force bombed Japanese ships in the Yangtze River and Beibu Gulf, and successively attacked the airports and docks in Hankou, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, which dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. 1943165438+1On October 25th, Chennault commanded the US Air Force fleet to expedition to the Japanese airport in Taiwan Province Province, and shot down 15 Japanese fighters and destroyed all 42 Japanese planes in the airport.

1in the autumn of 944, the contradiction between Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell intensified. 10 10 18, Roosevelt decided to transfer General Stilwell back to China and reassign Wedemayer to China to replace him as the chief of staff of the US Army China Theater. After Stilwell left China, Marshall and others began to consider reorganizing the air forces in Asia, and planned to transfer all the air forces stationed in Myanmar and India to China, where China's Air Force Command would command 10 and 14 air forces. Chennault resolutely opposed the reorganization plan, but he didn't get the support of Washington or Chiang Kai-shek. 1July 6, 945, Chennault submitted his resignation, and Wedemayer and others immediately approved and appointed General Si Tong to take over the command of Chennault 14 Air Force. On August 1945, Chennault left China for home in frustration. Chennault spent eight years in China, assisted the people of China in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and made great contributions to defeating the Japanese invaders. Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling gave a banquet to see him off and awarded him the highest honor in China-the blue ribbon.

Since July 1942, Chennault led the US Army 14 Air Force to destroy 2600 enemy planes, sank and injured a large number of enemy merchant ships, injured 44 warships and lost 500 planes.

A few days after Chennault returned to China, Japan surrendered. He was sad because he couldn't attend the surrender ceremony in the end. He said: "My only ambition for eight years is to defeat Japan. I really hope to see the Japanese officially declare failure. "

1945 65438+February, Chennault returned to China. 1946 10 in June, a civil aviation air transport team was established to transport emergency supplies to the General Administration of Rehabilitation and Emergency Relief of the Executive Yuan. 1947, Chennault married Chen Xiangmei, a female journalist in China. After 1948, Chiang Kai-shek's army lost in the civil war, and Chennault's civil aviation airlift team helped Chiang Kai-shek airlift troops and materials. From 65438 to 0949, Chennault's memoir The Warrior's Road was published in new york. 1June, 950, the air transport team was reorganized into a holding company, with Chennault as the chairman of the company. President Eisenhower asked Congress to promote Chennault to Lieutenant General. On 18, the us congress passed a bill to promote his rank as lieutenant general in the air force. On July 27th, Chennault died in Washington at the age of 67.