Who was Claire Chennault

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A.� American hero in the air war against the Japanese. He was recruited with other Americans as an instructor and adviser for the Chinese Air Force in 1937.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Background

A.� Born in Commerce, Texas, 6 September, 1893. He grew up in Louisiana and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve in November, 1917. He transferred immediately to the Signal Corps Aviation Section and served in he First World War. Chennault learned to fly after the war and got his wings in 1919.

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Chennault was promoted to major in June, 1936, when he was chief of pursuit training. He was retired on health grounds - he was had poor hearing and lung problems - soon after. He went to China shortly after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War to train pursuit units of the Chinese Air Force. In the summer of 1941 he was made a brigadier general in the Chinese Air Force and put in charge of recruiting pursuit pilots for the American Volunteer Group who became famed as the Flying Tigers.

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Q.� Let's hear a bit more about the Chinese war.

A. Japanese marines landed at Shanghai in September 1937. The Chinese, terribly outclassed by Japan's war machine, needed an effective way to hit back. Chennault's idea was called defensive pursuit - and was quickly proved in the air over Hangzhou and Nanjing, as Chinese fighter pilots cut a swathe through unescorted enemy bomber squadrons.

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Q.� So an early success for China

A.� Yes - but Japan hit back, introducing Mitsubishi A5Ms, open-cockpit monoplanes with fixed landing gear and two machineguns that were faster and more agile than the American-built biplanes flown by the Chinese.

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Q.� Then what

A.� China's leader, Chiang Kai-shek, made Chennault his air chief of staff for air - and his job was to build up a formidable force. There weren't enough trained Chinese for the job, so foreign volunteers had to be found to supplement them.

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Chiang asked Washington for American aid and obtained 100 pursuit planes -Curtiss fighters known to the US Army as the P-40C and to the RAF as the Tomahawk II. And 100 pilots were recruited from the US armed services for a starting salary of $600 a month plus $500 for each Japanese plane destroyed. Two hundred technicians were also required.

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Q.� Volunteers They sound more like mercenaries.

A.� They were - although with the America's unofficial backing. To join the American Volunteer Group, the pilots resigned their commissions to serve in a foreign air force. The pay - $600 a month - was vast. That sum of money bought a new Ford V-8 car. And there was the bonus of $500 for every Japanese plane shot down.

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President Franklin Roosevelt knew about and approved the formation of the 1st American Volunteer Group and two more, one of them to fly from Chinese bases and 'set the wood and paper cities of Japan on fire'. The men who served in the group are also official American Second World War veterans, too - even though they were flying for another country.

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Q.� So this was all officially unofficial

A.� Indeed. After his successes in China - and when America was officially at war with Japan - Chennault was recalled to active duty by the Army Air Force on 15 April, 1942, as a colonel and promoted to brigadier general a week later. In July he became commanding general of the US Air Force in China and in March, 1943, was promoted to major general and named to command the 14th Air Force in China. He retired from the service on 31 October, 1945.

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Q.� Then

A.� Chennault went back to China in 1946 and stayed there until 1950 as president of Civil Air Transports. On 18 July, 1958, the US Air Force gave him the honorary grade of lieutenant general. He died at New Orleans nine days later.

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Q.� A hero

A.� Yes. An air force base in Louisiana was named in his honour. Two full-length biographies were published in 1987. And on 6 September, 1990, the US Postal Service issued a stamp bearing his lantern-jawed picture.

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Steve Cunningham