Flying Tiger Heritage Park HISTORY

In March of 2006, as we stood looking out over the Flying Tigers Field in Guilin, we could see a scene which lay basically unchanged since the days of World War Two. We were standing on the same rock that General Chennault stood on to watch his Flying Tigers engage the Japanese in aerial combat. This rock is Located in front of General Chennault's operations and command cave which is situated on a hillside just above Yang Tang Old Air Field. If you have seen the archival footage of the Flying Tigers you have seen the scene we were looking at (pictured above). That airfield is about to be built on and that scene will be erased forever. Retired Major General Whitehead commented on our 2006 tour that if something wasn't done to preserve the command and operations cave, it also would be lost- and along with it the rich history of cooperation and friendship between the Chinese and Americans.

We approached the Chinese authorities with a proposal Major General Whitehead had prepared stating that: if they would come up with a fitting plan for a heritage and memorial site featuring the cave along with an estimate of the cost of construction, we would raise the money. Their plans and ideas were transmitted to us in December 2006. The Chinese had chosen to make it a much grander site than we had hoped for, offering to put 1.5 million dollars of their own money into the project and asking us to raise $400,000. (The Chinese have since increased the project to 300 acres and $23 million.)

Now it is our turn to live up to our pledge to raise our portion of the required funds. We should recognize and remember the deeds of our fathers who rose to the call of duty in a far off land, forging friendships while brining honor and glory to the American people. Certainly the Chinese have demonstrated at every turn that they have not forgotten.

Just as solid as this rock so to was the support given to the Flying Tigers by the Chinese populace during WWII. I have heard, first hand from the participants, stories of incredible courage on the part of the Chinese while protecting downed flyers. I will relate these stories as time permits on these pages. The first story was related to me by one of the Flying Tigers who accompanied us on our 2004 tour. He was forced down in Japanese territory and, before the Japanese could get to him, picked up by some Chinese villagers. The villagers led him to their village and, upon arrival, took his boots away. He spoke very little Chinese and they no English, so he assumed they were going to strip him of anything of value and then turn him over to the Japanese. He was, instead, turned over to one of the families in the village and they took him to their home. Not very long after this the Japanese were seen approaching the village. His benefactors managed to get him hidden under a sleeping area in their house. The Japanese made the rounds of the village searching and beating the villagers- all this he could hear from his hiding place. They then entered the house he was hiding in and began to beat the occupants, at one point he could have reached out and touched the boot of a Japanese soldier. So far no one had given up his hiding place despite the Japanese brutality. Then the soldiers left almost as rapidly as they had arrived. When he came out of hiding he was given his boots back. It seems the villagers had given the boots to a young man to wear in order to make a trail leading out of the village and this is what the Japanese spotted, causing them to leave. After a while a missionary arrived in the village. He spoke English and had been summoned to lead the Flying Tiger back to his forces. This gave our Flying Tiger the chance to thank the villagers and also to ask them why they risked their lives to protect his. This is what they said "when the Japanese come we see fear in the eyes of the Chinese, when the Flying Tigers come we see fear in the eyes of the Japanese". Most of the Flying Tigers have told us that they knew if they ended up in the hands of the Japanese they would be killed, but if they ended up in the hands of the Chinese they would make it back to their bases.

Our Flying Tigers arrived in Shijiazhuang to a police escort, red carpet, bands playing, bouquets of flowers, dignitaries greetings and in general a very warm welcome. Among the crowd were three Chinese gentlemen who asked to speak with the Tigers. One of the gentlemen had an old photograph of a bomber crew and himself, along with some other villagers. He wanted to know if we could tell him what had become of the men in the picture. It seems he and his fellow country men had rescued this crew when they were shot down over Japanese held territory. His story of that rescue is one of sacrifice beyond limit, given by the Chinese to protect our downed aviators.

The bomber crashed close to their village and they were able to get to the airmen before the Japanese. The ten crewmen were hidden in the surrounding country side until it was safe to move them back to their own forces, a journey that often took weeks or months and involved considerable danger to the Chinese. Also remember that rations were scarce and the Chinese shared what little they had to eat with these men. But it is what happened when the Japanese came into the village looking for the bomber crew that is the real story. A story of courage and sacrifice by many to protect a few.

When the Japanese entered the village they wanted to know where the downed pilots were. When no one would talk the Japanese took the old women of the village and began cutting their fingers off one by one. No one talked! The Japanese then took babies out of mothers’ arms and threw them down wells. No one talked! The Japanese then began bayoneting the men of the village. No one talked! Tiring, finding nothing in the village, and realizing that no villager was going to help them, the Japanese left to search the country side.

The gentleman with the picture eventually collected the airmen and led them to safety. His only reward was the picture he now held out to me for help in completing the story of their life. I was deeply moved and wish I could have garnered the information he so desperately wanted, but with no unit identification, or names, or anything we could begin the search with it was hopeless.

We were able to get the Chinese dignitaries to give us the honor of having these gentlemen at our banquette that night. The three gentlemen had all rescued downed airmen during the war, and had similar stories of torture and death at the hands of the Japanese while protecting Tigers. This is a little known side of the Flying Tiger saga that we hope to get out with the completion of the Flying Tiger Heritage Park.

The Chinese have never forgotten what the Flying Tigers did for them during the dark days of World War Two. The best evidence of this is a little museum not far from Guilin.

In 1995 a couple of Chinese farmers discovered the wreckage of a B24. Located in very inhospitable, terrain it had been undisturbed since it crashed. The crews’ remains were still inside. These farmers collected the remains and notified the authorities. Eventually the remains were brought back to the US, along with the farmers who discovered them. In a fitting ceremony, then remains were interned in Arlington National Cemetery.

The people of the farmers’ village recovered as much as they could of the B24 wreckage, dragging some huge pieces out of the inhospitable mountains. They then created a museum with the wreckage to pay homage to and honor the fallen “Flying Tigers”. (Chinese consider any airman who flew in China in World War Two to be Flying Tigers).

The evidence that the Chinese have never forgotten is in this museum. The little museum is very well done by loving and caring hands. What struck me was the fact that there is not one word of English in the museum, because it was never meant to be viewed by Western eyes, it is only meant to thank the Flying Tigers and honor them. Perhaps when the Flying Tiger Heritage Park project is complete this little museum will see some Western visitors, as it is no more than 30 miles from Claire Chennault's command cave.

On the 60th anniversary of the ending of hostilities with Japan we were in Xian, home to the 8000 clay soldiers discovered in 1978, and now a major tourist attraction. With us were two Flying Tigers.

Upon arrival at the clay solider site we were meet by camera crews and news media. The two Flying Tigers, their wives, my wife and I were taken to a reception room. Pleasantries were exchanged, questions asked and answered, pictures and film taken. Then we were escorted to the location of the clay soldiers and ushered into the pits. We toured the area, getting a close-up look at the work in progress and posed for more pictures. The two Flying Tigers, with their leather jackets on, saluted the clay soldiers in a posed shot. Two old warriors saluting The Emperors Eternal Guard. This photo made the front page of almost every newspaper in China.

The Flying Tigers were followed every where they went and asked, very politely, many questions. The interest in them is something to behold. I venture to say there are 30 year olds in this country who don’t know who the Flying Tigers are or what they did, but in China even small children know who they are.

Not until later did we find out what an honor had been bestowed on the Flying Tigers. Since the discovery of the clay soldiers only 37 world dignitaries have been taken into the pits and only two Americans, Presidents Bush and Clinton.

The Gentleman on the right in this picture is Mr. Chen, the Mayor of Guilin. A copy of this rubbing was presented as a present, by Mr. Chen, to all 200 tourist on this trip. This is a rubbing of the plaque, installed by Madame Chennault, on the rock General Chennualt stood on to watch his Flying Tigers engage the Japanese in aerial combat. The inscription reads "The rock on which Gen. Chennault stood to watch air combats". Why was Gen. Chennault able to watch the Tigers engage the Japanese right over the air field in Guilin? Fuel, and indeed everything the Tigers needed to fight the war, had to be flown in. It took 3000 gallons of fuel to fly in 5000 gallons. To conserve fuel Gen. Chennault had set up a warning system using Chinese villagers. When a villager would see the Japanese airplanes over head they would radio or call the flights heading, altitude, type, and number of planes to Gen. Chennault's command headquarters (the cave). The next village would do the same and so on. With this information Gen Chennault knew when and how many Flying Tigers he had to get into the air to fight them. They would launch just in time to climb to altitude and be above the attacking Japanese, then diving through their formation the Tigers would shoot down the attackers. This was called the three ball alert system. The first call into command would cause one ball to be raised, the second report would cause another ball to be raised, the third ball was raised when they knew the Japanese were going to attack the Tiger base at Guilin. Only after the second ball was raised did the Flying Tigers take off.

Looking out across the field from the rock on which General Chennault stood. This is the wide, 5,000 foot runway referred to by Donald Lopez as "The runway at Yang Tong".

Into The Teeth Of The Tiger, a book by Donald Lopez, talks about the airfield, cave and early warning system at Guilin. “The runway at Yang Tong was right in among the mountains, which looked even more distinctive from the ground than from the air. They were steep cones of gray rock rising 800 feet above the terrain, and they took on many different colors as the light varied. I later learned that the area around Kweilin (ed. Note now called Guilin) is considered one of the most beautiful in China and is celebrated in literature and art".

"The runway was about 5,000 feet long and wide enough for four fighters to take off abreast. Like all runways in China, it was made of crushed rock and was always in good condition because of the constant maintenance done by the Chinese. When a plane landed on the runway the wheels would throw rocks against the flaps on touchdown. This made a loud and initially disconcerting noise but didn’t seem to damage the flaps. In very dry weather the mud used to cement the rocks would turn to dust and the aircraft would raise great, blinding clouds on takeoff."

"On the far side of a ridge of mountains was another runway called the fighter strip. It was only a mile or so by road from the main runway area. The strip was so narrow that when two fighters took off in formation, as was the standard practice, part of the outer wings of both aircraft extended beyond the runway edges. The 74th Fighter Squadron of the 23rd Group was based on the fighter strip."

"We also visited the Cave. I had read about it in God Is My Copilot. So I was eager to see it. It was in a cluster of mountains not too far from 23rd Group Headquarters and served as the headquarters during bombing raids. The Cave was large and deep, well lighted, and full of desks, telephones, and other communications equipment. It looked like a natural cave that had been enlarged by the Chinese. It also was the terminus of the net."

"The net was a system devised by General Chennault to provide early warning of Japanese air attacks since we had no radar, which would have been ineffective in the mountainous terrain anyway. It was a network of telephones set up in small villages throughout China. The Chinese lookouts in each town would report aircraft that flew overhead or within earshot. A typical report would be “Heavy engine noise over Changsha, heading Hengyang.” If they could see the aircraft they would report the numbers, heading, and whether they were bombers or fighters. They were dedicated, diligent, and quite accurate within their limitations. We never were surprised by an air attach, except much later, when the Japanese had taken most of the territory to the north. The lookouts, especially those close to Japanese territory, operated at considerable personal risk. If they had been caught, they would have been summarily executed. To avoid unnecessary alerts, our pilots reported in by radio over specified points when returning from missions.”

We were accompanied by Bill Silzer, son of Flying Tiger Warren Silzer, on our 2007 trip to China. Warren was scheduled to go but illness caused him to cancel. He instead sent a letter along with Bill describing recollections of his time in China. I will quote from sections of that letter.

“Left New Port News aboard USS General Butner (a relative of my dad) unescorted. Stopped in Capetown, S. Africa…… debarked Bombay, India. Spent quite a long time in India (monsoons). Finally was assigned a P-38 to fly to China. It was ….. war weary and had been retired as no longer considered combat capable. Traded it for a P-40……. I had filled the wing compartments (where the 50 caliber shells were to go) with 96 cans of beer. I left Yananiy and flew to Kunming. The beer was cold but it was HOT! Couldn’t get any of the ground crew to help me until I sat a “Cold One” on the wing. 48 beers later all my helpers (and 48 beers) were gone.

..... but in China we had 1. An Airplane 2. Fuel 3. Ammo 4. Bombs but RARELY all 4 or any combo to outfit many missions. We were at Chengtu- Hsian (ed. Xian?) and Earl Ashworth of the 528th (F6) and I (529th & P51) were sent to Ankang, a P47 group. The F6 was to take pix “before and after the P47’s had done their thing”. We (Earl and I) would stay in bed until we heard the 47’s take off, get dressed, eat, get in our planes, PASS the 47’s, arrive at the target, watch then bomb, strafe, etc., turn for “home” and be back at Ankang in ample time to relax and wait for the 47’s to return. A P51 burned 60 gal. an hour and a 47 120 gph. So they had to fly so slow it was almost funny. We were not needing to fly in a stall in the 51’s. Earl had the only F6 (camera equipped P51) in the entire theater so his job was to take “before and after” and mine was to fly cover for him. In case of Jap attach he was to run for home and I was to try to protect him. The P47 C.O. was Col. Cellini and he could chew you out like the pro he was so when we’d get back we’d taxi to the far end of the field and walk back. The 50 cal. Machine guns had tape over the “muzzle” so when we “illegally” strafed targets the tell tale tape was gone and had to be (the guns) reloaded, cleaned, taped, etc.”

Pictured to the left are two flying tigers and a Chinese gentleman who worked on the airfield in Guilin. They are standing just below the cave General Claire Chennault ran his operation from and which we now hope to turn into a heritage park. The old gentleman answered questions, from our tour group, for over an hour. The camera is held by a Chinese news crew. Film of our visit was shown on Chinese TV. Every year that we tour China with the Flying Tigers I am impressed by how much the Chinese appreciate what the Flying Tigers did for them. If you were to ask some 30 year old's in the U.S. who the Flying Tigers are they would not know but even small children know who they are in China.

The primary goal of the Flying Tiger Historical Organization is to build a museum that will preserve, honor, and foster interest in the history of the Flying Tiger operations, before and during the Second World War, by restoring General Claire Chennault's operations command center- a cave in Guilin, China.

The Flying Tiger Historical Organization will develop financial and marketing strategies, in conjunction with the Chinese people, that will result in the construction of the Flying Tiger Heritage Park. Thus the American and Chinese people of today and tomorrow will be able to recognize and commemorate the shared experiences of both the United States and China during the Second World War.

The Chinese have not forgotten nor should we. The Flying Tiger Heritage Park will be a permanent reminder of the friendship formed during the darkest days of World War Two.

Every year we do a tour to China, always the second half of March for better weather and lower prices. Over the last several years we have been honored to have Flying Tigers with us. Our tour is a one of a kind aviation-oriented tour which includes going to an airfield that the Flying Tigers operated out of in WW II. Located on this airfield is a cave from which General Claire Chennault ran his operations during part of his time in China. It is accessible but not restored, and the only evidence of its importance is a couple of plaques put up by the Chinese and Madame Chennault. In years past we have been able to look out over the old airfield and recognize scenery which we have seen in archival film of the Flying Tigers. Last year the old field was being turned into housing and town sites. We realized that we would be the last Americans to view this historic sight and the thought crossed our minds that if we didn’t do something to preserve the cave, it would be lost too. We asked the Chinese to give us a proposal for turning the cave into an historical, memorial, and tourist site to honor the Flying Tigers, General Chennault, and the Chinese all of whom fought so bravely against the Japanese invaders. We offered to raise the funds if the Chinese would do the design and development work. The Chinese readily accepted the offer and we are presently working towards our goal. We are accepting tax deductible donations. Please send all donations to the address below.