Remains of Three World War II US Planes Discovered in China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 04, 2002

Remains of Three World War II US Planes Discovered in China

The remains of three US planes which crashed during World War II have been discovered within a distance of less than 30 kilometers in the area of the border between China and Myanmar. It has been determined that the three planes were members of the Flying Tigers, which made great contributions to the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

The six pieces of wreckage were found in Yingjiang County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, neighboring Myanmar.

Jia Po, secretary of the Communist Party of China's Zhina Township Committee, upon hearing that wreckage of a US plane had been sighted on Mount Erniang, near Lushan Village, led a search party.

The searchers found that the plane had caused an extensive fire when it crashed.

The wreckage of the two other planes were found in Myanmar.

It has been determined that the three planes were members of the Flying Tigers, which made great contributions to the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

Elderly people in Lushan Village recall seeing a plane crash in 1943.

The Flying Tigers: the American Volunteer Group

As in WWI, numerous Americans took advantage of the opportunity to fly and fight without waiting upon their country to enter the war. In Burma, Claire L. Chennault, a retired Air Corps major who had served as special advisor to the Chinese Air Force since 1937, formed the American Volunteer Group (A.V.G) nicknamed the Flying Tigers.

The unit consisted of approximately 100 pilots and 200 ground crew personnel (most of whom had been released from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines to volunteer for the A.V.G.) and was equipped with obsolescent P-40B airplanes. It began training at Rangoon in Sep. 1941.

Two of the three squadrons moved to Kunming, China to protect the Burma Road, the only ground route into China, and on Dec. 20, 1941, the Flying Tigers received their "baptism under fire" when they inflicted heavy losses on Japanese bombers attempting to attack Kunming.

Months of combat followed and the A.V.G., greatly outnumbered in the air and operating under adverse conditions (such as no replacement pilots and practically no spare parts for repairing aircraft), scored a very impressive record against the enemy, 286 Japanese planes shot down at a cost of 12 A.V.G. pilots killed or missing in action. In May 1942, pilots of the 23rd Fighter Group, selected to replace the Flying Tigers, began to arrive in China and the A.V.G. was dissolved on Jul. 4, 1942 when the 23rd Group was officially activated.

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