Product Description
In early 1990, two hill tribe hunters stumbled across airplane wreckage in a remote area of north Thailand. The author's attempt to identify the aircraft and its mission, set him off on a hunt that went on for almost ten years. A lot of history was uncovered in the process - and some old mysteries were solved.
It turned out that the airplane had belonged to the famed American Volunteer Group (AVG) Flying Tigers. The author worked closely with surviving Flying Tiger pilots to identify the aircraft and its mission. Attempting to account for the pilot - a prisoner of the Japanese who was exfiltrated from Thailand under mysterious circumstances - led the author to the Free Thai Movement, Thailand's anti-Japanese underground. Working with Free Thai officers took the author to the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, America's first strategic intelligemce service, and forerunner to the CIA.
The hunt turned into an adventure in the discovery of history. Interviews with AVG pilots, with Free Thai and OSS officers, gave the author a first hand look at some very colorful aspects of Wortld War II history that were little known in Thailand, and even less so to the world outside.
This book pulls together the pieces of a story that tells the history of AVG Flying Tiger, Free Thai and OSS operations in World War II Thailand - and of the hunt that brought that history into view.
It turned out that the airplane had belonged to the famed American Volunteer Group (AVG) Flying Tigers. The author worked closely with surviving Flying Tiger pilots to identify the aircraft and its mission. Attempting to account for the pilot - a prisoner of the Japanese who was exfiltrated from Thailand under mysterious circumstances - led the author to the Free Thai Movement, Thailand's anti-Japanese underground. Working with Free Thai officers took the author to the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, America's first strategic intelligemce service, and forerunner to the CIA.
The hunt turned into an adventure in the discovery of history. Interviews with AVG pilots, with Free Thai and OSS officers, gave the author a first hand look at some very colorful aspects of Wortld War II history that were little known in Thailand, and even less so to the world outside.
This book pulls together the pieces of a story that tells the history of AVG Flying Tiger, Free Thai and OSS operations in World War II Thailand - and of the hunt that brought that history into view.
