Mere months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a volunteer group of American airmen to the Far East, convinced that supporting Chinese resistance against the continuing Japanese invasion would be crucial to an eventual Allied victory in World War II. Within two weeks of that fateful Sunday in December 1941, the American Volunteer Group—soon to become known as the legendary "Flying Tigers"—went into action. For three and a half years, the volunteers and the Army Air Force airmen who followed them fought in dangerous aerial duels over East Asia. Audaciously led by master tactician Claire Lee Chennault, daring pilots such as David Lee "Tex" Hill and George B. "Mac" McMillan led their men in desperate combat against enemy air forces and armies despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Aviators who fell in combat and survived the crash or bailout faced the terrifying reality of being lost and injured in unfamiliar territory._x000D_
Historian Daniel Jackson, himself a combat-tested pilot, recounts the stories of downed aviators who attempted to evade capture by the Japanese in their bid to return to Allied territory. He reveals the heroism of these airmen was equaled, and often exceeded, by that of the Chinese soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to return them safely to American bases. Drawing from thorough archival research and compelling personal narratives from memoirs, wartime diaries, and dozens of interviews with veterans, this vital work offers an important new perspective on the Flying Tigers and the history of World War II in China.
About the Author :
Daniel Jackson is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and is the author of The Forgotten Squadron: The 449th Fighter Squadron in World War II and Famine, Sword, and Fire: The Liberation of Southwest China in World War II. He lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Review :
"An interesting collection of remarkable adventures -- adventures not always survived -- undertaken by Americans who fell from the sky to a strange and dangerous land in a time of war." -- Stone & Stone Second World War Books
"An outstanding book that should be read by every American regardless of their interest in aviation or World War II." -- Ted Spitzmiller
"This book brings to the fore the fate of the missing airmen in China during WWII. [ Fallen Tigers], when looked at as a whole and analyzed, gives a view of China's war without mythology or ideological or political glasses. There are many pictures to enjoy as well." -- Veterans Today
"Even historians specializing in World War II may be surprised by the large number of US pilots who were shot down over China, scene of one of the great forgotten air campaigns of that global conflict. Daniel Jackson is uniquely qualified to tell this fascinating story in all its complexity, as a military aviator, as a scholar with a deep understanding of the period he describes, and as a writer of the highest order. His real-life experience as a pilot shows. He has the ability to really bring the reader into the cockpit." -- Peter Harmsen, author of Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943
"In Fallen Tigers, author Dan Jackson has taken an innovative approach to telling the history of the air war in China during World War II by folding it into the stories of Allied aircrew who went down behind Japanese lines and were led to safety by local Chinese, often risking their lives in the process. Ample charts, graphs, maps and photos complete this compelling work." -- Carl Molesworth, author of Flying Tiger Ace: The Story of Bill Reed, China's Shining Mark
"Moving and brilliant. From the very first page, this account of American airmen fighting in the skies of World War II China grips readers and never lets them go. This book is both an outstanding work of military history, explaining the immense strategic importance of American air support for defending wartime China against the Japanese; and a human story, telling an unknown story of courageous Americans saved by Chinese bravery. Even those who think they know World War II will need to read this book." -- Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism
"Using extensive primary materials, Jackson chronicles the fate of the Flying Tigers in China and offers wonderful personal narratives from the flyers in wartime. The author's apparent Chinese language skills make this an important addition to the field." -- Dr. S. Mike Pavelec, author of Airpower Over Gallipoli, 1915-1916
"This work is the new standard for analyzing the role of Chinese partisans in the rescue and repatriation of downed American flyers, and it will remain so in perpetuity. The author's ability to work in Chinese as well as English is of enormous benefit, as is his careful combing of the downed aircraft records to build a complete database of all of the aircraft losses. Fallen Tigers is a huge contribution." -- Paul J. Springer, author of America's Captives: Treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror
