31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The truth about a legend, September 26, 2007
The American Volunteer Group (AVG), aka The Flying Tigers, are legendary. What young boy growing up in the 1940s and 50s has not been enthralled with John Wayne and the movie, Flying Tigers ? Great stuff. Most Americans believe the AVG was fighting the Japanese months, if not years, before Pearl Harbor. The truth is a little more prosaic. They flew their first combat mission 3 days after Pearl Harbor and made their first claim only on Dec 20th, 1941.
Daniel Ford originally published this book in the early 1990s. He did this with official records of the group from US archival sources as well as Japanese historians who worked for years on official Japanese records and first person AVG and Japanese stories to flesh out these records.
Ford was attacked, endlessly, by "keepers of the legend" as well as former AVG members still alive. The reason is he lent a truth and perspective. The AVG is officially credited with over 290 Japanese aircraft shot down over Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and China. Official Japanese records credit them with about ½ that amount. Over the years, the stories and accomplishments grew. The AVG claimed they could only be credited with half the amount they actually shot down because so many were behind Japanese lines. So they claimed at least 600, then it has grown to close to 1,000. The AVG people claim that official Japanese records are lies, perpetuated to this day.
It is a shame this goes on. Their record, even with less kills, is one to be proud of. The AVG fought courageously with an aircraft inferior in some ways to Japanese machines, in appalling living conditions with an ally, Chang-Kai-shek, who did not really care about the war, per se, but only holding his power and position against the Chinese communists in the show-down to come. The AVG's record deserves to be a legend, but not quite the John Wayne type.
Ford laid all this out in his first edition in a very readable of historical book. This second edition corrects some errors, adds information and comments on his on-going controversy with the keepers of the AVG legend. If this interests you at all, buy this book, admire their accomplishments and admire Dan Ford for his ground-breaking work.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even Better, August 28, 2007
As a professional author, I can attest that few of us get to rewrite a book, making use of "new" material. (There seems a law of the universe that as soon as a book hits the street, that hard-to-find bit of info finally turns up!) Fortunately for the cause of aviation history, Dan Ford is one of "the few."
Ford's definitive history of the AVG caused a sensation when first published, mainly because he dared challenge the conventional wisdom, not to mention the mythology attending the Flying Tigers. With passage of enough time, the worth of his initial effort became even more apparent, and even some of his critics within the AVG began acknowledging that he got far more right than wrong.
Apart from new material, the second edition retains the strengths of the first: honest scholarship and good writing. Ford clearly admires his subjects, but succeedds in telling the human side of the legendary airmen and the ground staff that "kept 'em flying." Claire Chennault's faults and foibles lend credence to the overall worth of this fine effort, which is unlikely ever to be surpassed.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical accuracy re-enforcing legend, November 3, 2007
The Flying Tigers are one of the few legends of American history. But in this skeptical age, it's hard to believe a legend. Author Dan Ford brings a historian's skills to researching what really happened in Burma and China when a handful of volunteer American airmen took on virtually the entire Japanese Army Air Force in southern China and southeast Asia. Ford shows that, while--not unusually--the Tigers are credited with destroying more enemy planes than they actually did, the number of planes that can be reliably confirmed as destroyed by them is still phenomenal, considering the odds they faced, the poor conditions they flew in, and the almost total lack of support from the U.S. Ford has the novelist's knack of being able to evoke the feel of a place with a few key words and phrases. After reading his book, you know what it was like to be in Rangoon as the British Empire crumbled and the barbarian invader closed in. -- CDB
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