Claire Chennault

Claire Lee Chennault was born on September 6, 1890, in Commerce, TexasTexasTexas is a U.S. state in the south-central United States, with its capital at Austin and its largest city Houston. It was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 29,145,505 residents.Open the full entry, and grew up in LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state in the southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico, bordered by Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas; its capital is Baton Rouge and its largest city is New Orleans. It entered the Union on April 30, 1812, as the 18th state, and had a population of 4,657,757 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry.⁠[1][2]

He briefly attended Louisiana State University, where he trained with the ROTC, and then entered the teacher training program at the Louisiana State Normal School in Natchitoches, completing it in 1910.⁠[1][3]

He worked for Goodyear in Akron, OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry, inspecting surveillance balloons. In 1917 he applied to become an Army pilot and was rejected, then joined the infantry; in November 1917 he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Infantry Reserve and transferred immediately to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. After the war he learned to fly at Kelly Field, Texas, earning his wings in 1919; he was honorably discharged in 1920 and received a regular Army commission later that year.⁠[3][2][1]

He completed pursuit pilot training in 1922. In September 1923 he went to HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is a U.S. state consisting of a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean; its capital is Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu. Hawaii was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, as the 50th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 1,455,271.Open the full entry for three years at Luke Field, where he commanded the 19th Pursuit Squadron; he then served about two years as an instructor at Brooks Field, Texas, and in April 1929 he was promoted to captain and named director of flying there.⁠[3][2]

In June 1931 he graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field, VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, and stayed on as an instructor, leading its pursuit section. In 1935 he wrote The Role of Defensive Pursuit, arguing that fighters could effectively threaten bombers, a view that put him at odds with his superiors. Promoted to major in June 1936, he became chief of pursuit training at Maxwell Field. In 1937 he retired because of health problems, including partial deafness, and disputes with other officers.⁠[2][1][3]

Shortly after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 he arrived in China, where he became aviation adviser to Chiang Kai-shek, trained Chinese Air Force pursuit units, rebuilt China’s air program and recruited American pilots.⁠[1][2]

In the summer of 1941 he was made a brigadier general in the Chinese Air Force and recruited pilots for the American Volunteer Group, famed as the Flying Tigers. The group began training in Burma in July 1941 with 43 serviceable P-40B fighters and 84 former U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry military pilots, and first saw combat on December 20, 1941.⁠[2][4]

From December 1941 to July 1942 the group destroyed 296 Japanese aircraft in China and Burma; the 64 Parishes article records that it lost 14 pilots in combat. When the U.S. Army Air Forces arrived in July 1942 the group was disbanded, and some of its members joined his China Air Task Force.⁠[4][3]

He was recalled to U.S. active duty as a colonel on April 15, 1942, and promoted to brigadier general a week later; in July 1942 he became commanding general of the U.S. Air Force in China.⁠[2]

In March 1943 he was promoted to major general and named commander of the 14th Air Force, formed around the China Air Task Force. Supplied by air over “the Hump,” a 500-mile route from India to China across the Himalayas, it grew from fewer than 200 aircraft to more than 700 by the end of the war; the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force states that American airmen in China destroyed or damaged more than 4,000 Japanese aircraft and sank more than a million tons of shipping.⁠[2][4]

Lt. Gen. Takahashi, Japanese chief of staff in China, judged that the 14th Air Force accounted for 60 to 75 percent of the effective opposition in China, saying, “Without the (14th) air force we could have gone anywhere we wished.”⁠[4]

He clashed repeatedly with Gen. Joseph Stilwell and other superiors over strategy in Asia, disputes that led him to give up his command and leave China near the end of the war. He returned home in July 1945 for a brief assignment at Army Air Forces headquarters and retired on October 31, 1945.⁠[1][5][2]

In 1946 he returned to China as a civilian and founded a commercial airline that became Civil Air Transport, serving as its president until 1950. The airline transported munitions and troops for the Nationalists against the Communists and was later bought by the Central Intelligence Agency, eventually becoming known as Air America.⁠[3][2][5][1]

On July 18, 1958, the U.S. Air Force gave him the honorary grade of lieutenant general. Nine days later, on July 27, 1958, he died of cancer at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.⁠[2][3][5]

He met his first wife, Nell Thompson, in Natchitoches. In 1947 he married Chen Xiangmei (Anna Chennault).⁠[3]

He wrote the memoir Way of a Fighter (1949). Lake Charles Air Force Base in Louisiana was renamed Chennault Air Force Base and kept that name until it closed in 1963; he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1972, and a commemorative stamp was issued in 1990. The Chennault Aviation and Military Museum opened in Monroe, Louisiana, in 2000.⁠[3][6]

Chennault Aviation & Military Museum: Web page: https://www.chennaultmuseum.org/about (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

U.S. Air Force (official biography of Claire Lee Chennault): Web page: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107526/major-general-claire-lee-chennault/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

National Museum of the United States Air Force (Claire Chennault fact sheet): Web page: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196772/maj-gen-claire-chennault (opens in a new window).⁠[5]