The Flying Tigers and Sino-American military relations

The P-40, with the markings of the Republic of China Air Force, displayed at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Hawaii. (Photo/Wu Ming-chieh)

Though neither Taiwan nor mainland China were invited to participate in the RIMPAC 2012 naval exercise held by the United States Pacific Fleet and its allies in Hawaii, a World War II-era P-40 fighter with the decals of the Republic of China Air Force is on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford island, Oahu, reports our sister newspaper China Times.
Built within a hanger that survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Aviation Museum was opened to the public in 2006 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the event which triggered the US entry into the war. Since China was a major US ally in its war against Japan, the history of the American volunteer group known as the Flying Tigers is also displayed in the museum. Under the leadership of Claire Lee Chennault, the success of the Flying Tigers in defending the skies above China and Burma against the Japanese air force became a symbol of wartime cooperation between China and the United States.
The P-40E displayed in the Pacific Aviation Museum with the decals of the Flying Tigers was originally owned by the Flying Tiger Line, a civil airline formed by the veterans of the American Volunteer Group. It was loaned to the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Southern California in the 1980s. The P-40E became the property of FedEx after the Flying Tiger Line was purchased in 1989. With the approval of FedEx, the plane was loaned to the Pacific Aviation Museum years ago.

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