Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 - July 27, 1958) was a United States aviator famous for commanding the "Flying Tigers" fighter group during World War II.
A native of Waterproof, Louisiana, Chennault learned to fly in the Army after World War I and became Chief of Pursuit Training for the US Army Air Corps in the 1930's. Poor health and disputes with superiors led Chennault to retire from the service in 1937. He then joined a small group of American civilians training Chinese airmen during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
Chennault's American Volunteer Group (AVG) - better known as the Flying Tigers - began training in the summer of 1941 and fought the Japanese for six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chennault's three squadrons of Chinese and American volunteer pilots used tactics of "defensive pursuit" to guard the Burma Road and other strategic locations in Southeast Asia and western China against Japanese forces.
The Flying Tigers were formally incorporated into the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942. Chennault retired in 1945 shortly before the Allied victory in the Pacific. He returned to China as an adviser to its air force.
Chennault, who unlike Joseph Stilwell, had a high opinion of Chiang Kai-shek and advocated international support for Asian anti-communist movements. In 1946 he purchased several surplus military aircraft and created Civil Air Transport (later Air America). These aircraft supported the Kuomintang against Mao Zedong's Communists in the Chinese Civil War and assisted the French during the First Indochina War. Chennault died in 1958 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He is commemorated by a statue in the ROC capital of Taipei, as well as by monuments on the grounds of the Louisiana state capitol at Baton Rouge, and at Chennault Air Force Base , in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Chennault is still recognized as a major historical contributor to Chinese history within China. His Chinese name is Tang-na-de (唐纳德). He married a Chinese woman, Chen Xiangmei (陈香梅) much younger than him at the time.
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