mightyauster wrote:
The thing that bugs me with the AVG is that although these guys were no doubt brave and fought on the winning and therefore more rightoeus side, they were still, at the end of the day, mercenaries, being paid to fight the Japanese by Chiang Kai Shek, leader of the Nationalist Chinese forces.
Using this reasoning, I believe that there are a lot of other Allied forces that used P-40's with great distinction, that deserve far, far more recognition, eg the 49th Fighter Group. The AVG, IMHO, were used as a propaganda tool in the US early in the war to convince the public to sign up. Hence the use of Disney designed logos. This built up the myth around them and before long you start believing your own BS.
I'm glad to see that it didn't take but 15 minutes for someone to post the response about the Americans in the Eagle squadrons of the RAF in 1940 (which actually pre-dated the AVG in China.) That was also my first thought, anyway.
If someone wants to carry around a chip on his shoulder that attributes the success and fame of the AVG to some kind of Madison Avenue or Hollywood PR campaign, that is his right. You know, we still live in a "free" country (where nothing is actually free...but that's a different thread altogether.)
Personally, I think that what the Flying Tigers did was heroic and no less so if they had been called the American Mercenary Group. (OK, the PR campaign might not have been as successful if they had....) Either way, they put themselves in harms way months before the US got into the war. They were true fighter pilots; they wanted to fly and carry the fight to the enemy. They didn't care about bureaucratic red tape or labels like "volunteer" or "mercenary." Also consider the fact that after the AVG was absorbed into the 23rd FG of the USAAC 14th Air Force in the CBI theatre, many of the original AVG pilots returned to active duty and did additional tours of duty.
If on the other hand, you simply want to make the point that maybe other WWII P-40 units have been under-represented in Warbird circles for too many years, that would be perfectly valid and I would also agree. I believe that point, however, can be made without denigrating the AVG.