Soldiers of Misfortune

 the history of mercenaries
Claire Lee Chennault

Claire Lee Chennault (1890-1958)

Chennault was born in Texas, in 1890. In World War I he served with the Signal Corps Aviation Section. After the war he stayed in the army where he studied aeronautical engineering and learned to fly. He worked mostly as an instructor but in 1937 he retired as a major because of disagreements with superior Air Corps officers.

Then he became an aviation advisor for China’s General Chiang Kai-shek during the Sino-Japanese War. Chennault reorganied China’s aviation program and recruited American pilots fot the Chinese air force. His American Volunteer Group better known as "Flying Tigers" operated from Burma and was integrated in the Army Air Forces soon after the USA entered the war.

A short time after the war Chennault left the Army Air Forces again and founded a commercial airline in China, China’s Civil Air Transport. This airline served mostly for CIA operations in China, Korea and Vietnam. In 1958 the U.S. Air Force promoted Chennault to the honorary grade of lieutenant general. He died some days later.