With General Chennault: The Story of the Flying Tigers

by Cpt. Robert B. Hotz

Overview

General Claire Lee Chennault (1890-1958) was both a pioneer and a genius when it came to the development of fighter tactics. In the period between the World Wars, American aviation thinking had emphasized bombers and bomber doctrine, while the development of a fighter force and fighter tactics was downplayed. General Chennault was one of the few who perceived the potential of the fighter.

Claire Chennault was a veteran pilot of the First World War, having served in the 19th Pursuit Squadron. Later he became a member of a famous Army flying acrobatic team, and also served as the Army’s chief of fighter training. Because of a hearing problem, he retired from the Army Air Force in 1937.

In early 1941, he recruited a group of American fliers to fly for the Chinese in their struggle with the invading Japanese. This group was officially known as the American Volunteer Group (the AVG), but soon became legendary as The Flying Tigers—a name given to them by the Chinese. Between the periods of 20 December 1941 and 4 July 1942, The Flying Tigers demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces, and, during the lowest period of the war for both the U.S. and the Allied Forces, gave hope to America that it might eventually defeat the Japanese…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789122770
Publisher:	Eschenburg Press
Publication date:	09/03/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	273
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Robert Bergmann Hotz (May 29, 1914 - February 9, 2006) was an award-winning aerospace journalist, author and arms-control expert who served on the presidential commission that investigated the space shuttle Challenger accident. His career as a journalist spanned more than 50 years, in which he pioneered news coverage of international military and aerospace affairs.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he graduated with a BS in Economics from Northwestern University in 1936 and went to work as a reporter on the staff of the Paris Herald Tribune. In 1938, he became New York bureau chief for the Milwaukee Journal, a post he held until the beginning of WWII. He was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Air Force in 1942, serving two tours with the 14th Air Force in China, in B-25 bomber combat operations and on the staff of Gen. Claire Lee Chennault. He was awarded the Air Medal with Oak leaf cluster and ended the war in 1946 with the rank of major.

He was editor and then publisher of Aviation Week and Space Technology Magazine from 1955-1980, where the coverage he directed was honored by the Aviation Space Writers Association and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hotz to the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, where he served throughout the Reagan Administration and during the administration of President George H. W. Bush.

In the aftermath of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger accident, President Reagan appointed Hotz to the presidential commission that investigated NASA’s space shuttle program.

Hotz was the author of four books, most notably With General Chennault: The Story of The Flying Tigers (1943). He also edited Gen. Chennault’s memoirs: Way of a Fighter (1946).

He retired to Rams Horn Farm in Myersville, Maryland, where he raised Angus cattle and peacocks. He died on February 9, 2006, at the age of 91.