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Post by pampa14 on Jul 4, 2014 21:16:19 GMT 12
The following link brings an extensive report and a lot of photos of the one of most famous Fighter Units already created, using the most iconic nose art applied on a warplane, the legendary Shark Mouth: aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/tigres-voadores.htmlHope you enjoy and I count on your visit! |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 4, 2014 23:56:31 GMT 12
One of the most over-rated flying units ever created...
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Post by baz62 on Jul 5, 2014 10:22:31 GMT 12
No not over-rated as they did good job (and some lost their lives doing it) but over publicized to the point where P40s get painted up in Shark mouths like no other units existed! Fortunately some owners have gone with other unit markings, my favourite is the skull emblems used by the US unit in the CBI Theatre (China, Burma and India).
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 5, 2014 12:49:48 GMT 12
Yes over-rated. They flew operationally for a very short period, and many of the kills they claimed were not actually shot down by the at all. They were mercenaries who were given US$500 per confirmed kill, and what they were doing is many pilots had arrangements with RAF pilots that when the RAF guys made a kill, the Flying Tiger pilots would claim the bounty and split the money. So the supposed impact they made is a crock. And then worse, John Wayne got involved and made them into legends...
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Post by nuuumannn on Jul 5, 2014 15:02:09 GMT 12
I can't agree that the Flying Tigers were over rated, but certainly over publicised. Yes, they were mercenaries, but the intel that was learned from their collective experience was quite telling and gave those in the field an acute picture of what the Japanese were capable of. Its a pity the Americans back home ignored to a degree what was being revealed. Despite his unpopularity among certain sectors back home, Chennault was an able and smart man who was given an extraordinarily difficult job and managed to pull it off and produce a capable fighting unit. The legend however, takes precedence over the reality in the public eye, but which ever way the AVG is viewed, it and the characters involved and their adventures were very much the stuff of 'Boy's Own' adventures straight from the pages of a pulp fiction novel. The reality was that spares were hard to come by, support from the US was virtually non-existent and so they had to make do as best they could - how could the US public not idolise these guys?
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