(8) Charles Bond

Charlie Bond was born in Dallas on April 22, 1915. As a high-school student, he joined the ROTC and eventually the Texas National Guard. In 1935 he joined the Army in hopes of attending the West Point Preparatory School at Camp Bullis, Texas--a route for enlisted men to attend the Military Academy. Failing to win an appointment, he tried again as a flying cadet. He succeeded in becoming an officer, but was disappointed to be assigned to the 2nd Bomb Group at Langley Field, Virgina, instead of flying "pursuit" as every young pilot dreamed of doing. He was ferrying Hudsons to the RAF when an AVG recruiter caught up with him. For his services in Burma, the British awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. After his AVG tour--which included two weeks' extra service during the transition to the 23rd Fighter Group--he became a career officer, retiring from the Air Force with the rank of major general. In 1984, he published his memoirs as A Flying Tiger's Diary. He was credited with 7 air-to-air victories:

• 29 Jan 1942: 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 25 Feb 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 26 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 4 May 1942: 1 Ki-21 Sally bomber (the Sally belonged to the 98th Sentai based at Rangoon; it crashed inside China, and several other bombers also sustained damage from Bond's attacks)

(8) Frank Lawlor

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, "Whitey" Lawlor joined the Navy in 1938, and he was a fighter pilot on Saratoga when he joined the AVG. He returned to the Navy after his AVG tour, ending the war as a lieutenant commander. He tied Bond and Jack Newkirk with 7 air-to-air victories:

• 23 Jan 1942: 4 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 29 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 5 May 1942: 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters

(8) John Newkirk

His family called him "Scarsdale Jack," to distinguish him from a cousin with the same name. Born in 1913, he received his Eagle Scout badge from no less a hero than the Antarctica explorer Richard Byrd. He learned to fly as a student at Rennselaer Polytechnic, where he eventually accumulated the two years' study that would qualify him to become a cadet aviator in the US Navy. He was a fighter pilot aboard Yorktown, flying the F4F Wildcat, when he volunteered for the AVG. At the age of 27, with his leadership training, he was already a dominant figure in the group by the time he arrived in Burma. By the time he was killed on the Chiang Mai raid, he too had been credited with 7 air-to-air victories, though some AVG veterans hinted broadly that were skeptical of his claims. (It is certainly true that the squadron leaders, who had the primary responsibility for signing off on victories, generally built up their scores more quickly than the other pilots.) For more about the crash, see here.

• 3 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-44 Shoki? fighter, 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 20 Jan 1942: 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 23 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-21 Sally? bomber, 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters

(11) Robert Hedman

Duke Hedman was the only AVG pilot--and one of very few Americans--to make ace in a single day. (The record was confused when one of his victories was shifted to an earlier day, and again when his flight agreed to share all bonus credits equally.) He attended the University of North Dakota and was serving with the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field when he joined the AVG. He stayed on in China as a civilian transport pilot for the national airline, CNAC. Postwar, he was a pilot for Flying Tiger Line until he retired in 1971. Though his CAMCO bonus account stands at only 4.83, he should have been credited with 6 victories, putting him in a three-way tie as tenth-ranking AVG ace, and one of very few Americans who achieved acedom in a single day:

• 25 Dec 1941: 4 Ki-21 Sally bombers + 1 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter
• 10 Apr 1942: shared 1 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter (Sgt. Yasuda's plane; see Older's listing for more about this combat)
• 20 Apr 1942: shared 1 Ki-15? Babs observation plane

(11) C. Joseph Rosbert

Joe Rosbert (his first initial stands for Camille) graduated from Villanova as a chemical engineer before joining the Navy in 1938. He was piloting a stately PBY Catalina for VP-44 in San Diego when the AVG signed him up. He served two extra weeks during the transition to the 23rd Fighter Group, then joined CNAC as a transport pilot flying cargo over the "Hump" of the Himalayas. Postwar, he was one of the original founder-pilots of Flying Tiger Line (see Bartling, below), before moving over to Chennault's Civil Air Transport (the predecessor of Air America). Later he ran several "Flying Tiger Joe" restaurants. He too had six victories in the record:

• 25 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 26 Feb 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 12 June 1942: 2 Ki-45 Toryu fighters

(11) J. Richard Rossi

Dick Rossi was born April 19, 1915, and he'd attended the University of California and served a hitch in the Merchant Marine before joining the Navy. He was a flight instructor at Pensacola when he joined the AVG. Like the other six-victory aces, he declined to rejoin his country's armed services after the AVG disbanded, staying on in China as a highly-paid CNAC pilot. He flew for Flying Tiger Line until his retirement in 1971, and was the long-time president of the Flying Tiger Assocation. He once posted his story online.

• 28 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 25 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 26 Feb 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 12 Jun 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter

14. Robert Prescott

Born May 5, 1913, and therefore apparently the oldest of the AVG aces, Bob Prescott had been a pre-law student in college. Recruited from the Navy, he was yet another of the Flying Tigers who chose to fly for CNAC when his tour ended. He later founded the Flying Tiger Line, the only "non-sked" established by World War II veterans that survived and prospered, at least until it was absorbed by FedEx. (Until the FAA put a stop to it, he used to fly AVG veterans to their annual reunions.) The record shows him with 5.5 air-to-air victories:

• 29 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 6 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 25 Feb 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 18 Apr 1942: shared 1 Ki-46? Dinah observation plane

(15) Percy Bartelt

An engineering graduate of the University of Iowa, Bartelt had served four years in the Navy when he joined the AVG. He quit the AVG in March 1942 and thus received a "dishonorable discharge" from Chennault, depriving him of the veterans' benefits and Silver Star that were later awarded to those who stayed with the group to the end. He was the only ace to be so treated, and probably for that reason I could find no photograph of him in the AVG records. (The mug shot above is cropped from a photo of him as a US Navy pilot, sent to me by his son Rick.) He returned to the Navy as a lieutenant and served as a flight instructor until being hospitalized with a lung infection. He received a disability retirement in 1951 and worked for the state of Minnesota until retirement in 1974. He died in Fargo, ND on March 29, 1986. The record shows him in a five-way tie as the AVG's fifteenth-ranking ace:

• 23 Jan 1942: 3 Ki-30 Ann light bombers
• 24 Jan 1942: 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters

(15) William Bartling

A 1938 graduate of Purdue in chemical engineering, Bartling joined the navy and flew a dive bomber off the USS Wasp. He was one of the AVG pilots who volunteered two extra weeks' service in China to ease the transition to the 23rd Fighter group, and he afterward flew for CNAC. Postwar, he was an executive at National Skyway Freight Corporation, which morphed into the Flying Tiger Line, the most successful of the "non-scheds" established by veterans flying war-surplus aircraft (in this case, Douglas C-47s with a rather bemused shark-mouth painted on). He died November 1979.

• 23 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 28 Jan 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 9 May 1942: 1 Ki-46 Dinah observation plane (this was the first plane ever lost by the 18th Independent Chutai, which had been flying reconnissance missions over China for four years; it was piloted by Capt. Hideharu Takeuchi)
• 12 June 1942: 1 Ki-45 Toryu fighter + 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter

(15) Edmund Overend

Born May 31, 1914, Eddie Overend became a Flying Tiger ace shortly before his 28th birthday. A Marine pilot when recruited for the AVG, he'd also served two years in a machine-gun company--presumably also in the Marines. He rejoined the Corps after his AVG tour was ended, finishing the war with the rank of major.

• 23 Dec 1941: 1 Ki-21 Sally bomber
• 25 Dec 1941: 2 Ki-21 Sally bombers
• 8 Apr 1942: 1 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter
• 28 April 1942: 1 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter

(15) Robert Sandell

A former Army flight instructor at Maxwell Field, Sandy Sandell somehow ended up as squadron leader of the AVG 1st Squadron, called the Adam & Eves. He was not particularly liked, but in his short combat career at Rangoon he became one of the first of the AVG aces. He was killed on 7 Feb 1942 when his recently-repaired Tomahawk shed its tail on a test flight over Mingaladon airport.

• 28 Jan 1942: 2 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 29 Jan 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters

(15) Robert H. Smith

Sometimes called Snuffy, sometimes Smitty, this Bob Smith attended Kansas State College and served in its ROTC detachment; he had 18 months in the Army Air Corps when he was recruited for the AVG. He rejoined the Army after his tour as a Flying Tiger, ending the war as a major.

• 21 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-27 Nate fighter
• 25 Feb 1942: 3 Ki-27 Nate fighters
• 26 Feb 1942: 1 Ki-48 Lily bomber

Click here for victories attributed to AVG pilots