14th Air Force Association Membership Certificate

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a membership certificate issued by the 14th Air Force Association (the "Flying Tigers"). The certificate states that membership signifies that the recipient served with honor between December 20, 1941 and December 15, 1945 in or attached to the 14th Air Force or its predecessors. The certificate also includes a very brief history of the 14th Air Force and the reproduced signatures of Claire Lee Chennault and Charles B. Stone, III, who took command of the 14th Air Force from late summer 1945 until the unit's deactivation in December 1945. The certificate has the 14th Air Force's insignia at the top, in color, and is marked "Issued" at the bottom. The space on the certificate for the recipient's name is left blank.

Arrangement

Collection is a single item.

Biographical / Historical

Claire Lee Chennault accepted the task of reorganizing the Chinese Air Force in 1937 and in 1941 Chennault was authorized, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to organize a group of volunteers to assist in this endeavor. The result was the American Volunteer Group (AVG). The AVG was also known as the "Flying Tigers" because the noses of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawks they flew were painted with the mouth and eyes of a tiger shark. The AVG was responsible for at least 268 enemy aircraft destroyed and another 40 aircraft damaged while sustaining only 12 losses. On July 4, 1942, the AVG became the China Air Task Force, still known as the "Flying Tigers," and was still under the leadership of Chennault, then a brigadier general. The China Air Task Force became the 14th Air Force by special order of President Roosevelt on March 10, 1943 with a newly promoted Major General Chennault in command. The 14th Air Force, who also adopted the "Flying Tigers" designation, conducted fighter, bomber, and supply missions in the China-Burma-India theater. The 14th Air Force is credited with the destruction of 2,315 Japanese aircraft, 356 bridges, 1,225 locomotives and 712 railroad cars during the remainder of World War II.