Insulting the Flying Tigers

Capt. Dominic S. Gentile and Col. Donald M. Blakeslee after both men received the Distinguished Service Cross from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 11,1944. Gentile flew with the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group and Blakeslee was the Commanding Officer of the 4th Fighter Group. Note that both men are wearing their RAF wings as well as their USAAF wings. They both served in the RAF "Eagle Squadrons" prior to the U.S. entering the war.

The Army Air Force's blunder effectively dissolved the only fighter group that was winning against the Japanese

“The victories of these Americans over the rice paddies of Burma are comparable in character, if not in scope, with those won by the Royal Air Force over the hop fields of Kent in the Battle of Britain.”

—Prime Minister Winston Churchill

The American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, had captured the Allied nations’ imagination with its successful David-against-Goliath battles flying P-40 fighters under the Nationalist China flag against the Japanese. With the United States now officially at war, the decision was made to integrate the Flying Tigers and its counterpart in England, the Eagle Squadrons, into the Army Air Force. But repatriating the expatriates was not as straightforward as it first appeared.

With the Eagle Squadrons, all had been civilians prior to joining the RCAF and RAF, which was where they had qualified as fighter pilots. Several issues had to be resolved, including the transfer of comparable rank and pilot’s wings. In addition, the Eagle squadrons, whose members included Don Gentile and Donald Blakeslee, refused to be broken up in order to provide an experienced cadre to lead the green Army Air Force (AAF) squadrons arriving in England. And Britain, facing the prospect of losing three experienced squadrons, wanted compensation. These and other concerns were ironed out, and by the end of September 1942 the Eagle Squadron pilots became members of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. The situation with the Flying Tigers, however, did not end as harmoniously.

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