ANNALS OF THE FLYING TIGERS

Gary Price works in Shanghai, and on a visit to Guizhou recently came across this remarkable mock-up of Chuck Older's Tomahawk, fuselage number 68. It's not necessarily the real thing. No. 68 was crash-landed in March but evidently survived, to become the prom queen of R. T. Smith's iconic photo of Tomahawks over China in May 1942 (Arvid Olson was the pilot). But it certainly appears to be a P-40B to judge, by the cowling machine gun mounts and the small air scoop. Whoever did the paint job gave the plane the tail number P-8168, which is logical but wrong--Older's plane was actually P-8109 .

Gary also sent a photo of a memorial to Claire Chennault, though I'm not sure it's in the same location. So what was this--the beginnings of a museum that was later abandoned, one man's obsession, or what? Cast your vote at the message board.

Before he died, Robert Layher gave an interview to Bob Bergin about the calamitous escort of Chiang Kai-shek's "flying palace" that ended in the crash landing of three AVG Tomahawks. Read it on the Michigan War Studies Review. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford