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  • Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault

    Claire Chennault led the famed Flying Tigers and the U.S. 14th Air Force against the Japanese in China and Burma during World War II. He was a charismatic airpower theorist and a controversial leader who at times disagreed with official doctrine and his superiors. Chennault learned to fly in the

  • 14th Air Force in China: From Volunteers to Regulars

    The great value of the American Volunteer Group (AVG or Flying Tigers) was psychological and diplomatic: Americans and Chinese hailed them as heroes during the early period of World War II when Japan had the upper hand. The Flying Tigers raised public hopes for eventual victory while Allied forces,

  • Corregidor Recaptured

    American forces landed on Mindoro on Dec. 15, 1944, and on Jan. 9, 1945, U.S. troops invaded Luzon. By this time, Allied airpower had gained aerial supremacy. Except for suicide attacks on ships by Kamikaze aircraft and other sporadic air attacks, little enemy opposition in the air was encountered

  • Return to the Philippines

    As a prelude to the long-anticipated campaign to retake the Philippines, AAF air power carried out maximum-range air strikes against petroleum facilities in the Netherlands East Indies. The Allies invaded the Palau Islands and Morotai to gain airfield facilities, and targets in the Philippines were

  • America's Top Two Aces

     The Pacific Theater of Operations produced the two highest scoring aces in American history, Maj. Richard I. Bong and Maj. Thomas B. McGuire Jr. Both men flew P-38 Lightnings in the Southwest Pacific, and each received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his courage and accomplishments. Maj.

  • Johnny Got a Zero

    Not many fliers have had a popular song written about them, but an exception was a soft-spoken USAAF enlisted man, John D. Foley. As a skilled typist, Foley was assigned to duty as a company clerk en route to the Southwest Pacific in December 1941. Eager for combat, he secured orders -- some rumored

  • Victory in New Guinea

    While the Allies were seizing the Gilbert and Marshall islands, the 13th Air Force "jumped" to the Admiralty Islands from New Guinea to join the 7th Air Force and Navy in neutralizing the Caroline Islands, which were scheduled to be bypassed. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's forces in the Southwest

  • Gilbert and Marshall Islands

    Seventh Air Force B-24s, refueling in the Ellice Islands, first bombed Tarawa and Nauru in the Gilberts in April 1943. In November, following preliminary aerial bombardment by B-24s and carrier-based Navy aircraft, Tarawa and Makin Islands were invaded by U.S. Army forces, respectively. AAF planes

  • Island Hopping

    In the central Pacific, the role of the Hawaii-based 7th Air Force had been primarily a defensive one and after the Battle of Midway, the enemy had made no serious effort to advance in that theater. But, by late 1943 as growing U.S. naval strength permitted a more aggressive strategy in the central

  • Aleutian Campaign

    As a diversionary move in conjunction with their strike against Midway, the Japanese in June 1942 bombed Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Island chain and landed troops on Kiska and Attu islands. Here the Japanese remained, primarily in a defensive situation, to prevent any movement by American forces