Flying Tigers (film)
Encyclopedia
Flying Tigers is a 1942 black-and-white war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...

, starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 and John Carroll
John Carroll (actor)
John Carroll was an American actor and singer. He was born Julian Lafaye in New Orleans, Louisiana....

 as mercenary fighter pilots fighting the Japanese in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 prior to the U.S. entry into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The film was nominated for three Oscars: Best Effects, Special Effects for Howard Lydecker (photographic) and Daniel J. Bloomberg (sound); Best Music for Victor Young
Victor Young
Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...

; and Best Sound, Recording for Daniel J. Bloomberg.

Plot

Jim Gordon (John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 in his first war film) leads the Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...

, a legendary unit not sanctioned by the American government at the time. His men fly Curtiss P-40
Curtiss P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...

 fighters against Japanese bombers and fighters in the skies over China. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money (they receive a bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...

 for each aircraft shot down), patriotism or just the thrill of combat.

One day, old friend Woody Jason (John Carroll
John Carroll (actor)
John Carroll was an American actor and singer. He was born Julian Lafaye in New Orleans, Louisiana....

) enlists. An arrogant, hot-shot aviator, he starts causing trouble immediately. When the Japanese raid the base, the enthusiastic new arrival goes after them, taking up a fighter aircraft without permission, not realizing until too late that it has no ammunition. As a result, he is shot down. He is unharmed, but the precious fighter is a wreck. As time goes on, he shows that he has little use for teamwork, alienating and endangering the other pilots. He abandons his wingman
Wingman
A wingman is a pilot who supports another in a potentially dangerous flying environment. Wingman was originally a term referring to the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation....

, Blackie Bales (Edmund MacDonald), to chase a Japanese airplane. As a result, Blackie is killed after bailing out of his crippled fighter.

In a subplot, Woody starts romancing nurse Brooke Elliott (Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...

), who had been waiting for Jim to notice her. One night, they go on a date. When he is late getting back for a patrol, Jim's right hand man, "Hap" Smith (Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (actor)
Paul Michael Kelly was an American child actor who later as an adult became a stage, film, and television actor.-Child actor:...

), secretly takes his place, despite being grounded by Jim because his vision had deteriorated, particularly at night. In the resulting dogfight, Hap is unable to judge distances accurately and winds up dying in a collision with a Japanese raider. This proves to be the final straw. While sitting at his office desk, Jim fires Woody, explaining that "It's out of my hands now. None of these men will ever fly with you again. And they 'have' to fly." After Jim says this, the camera pans down to the desk, stopping at a page-a-day calendar with the date Sunday, December 7, 1941, the date of the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, which brings the United States into World War II.

A day later, Jim receives word that a vital bridge has to be destroyed. The target is so heavily defended, the only way that has a chance of working is to try to sneak in with a single cargo aircraft and bomb it, but it would be a one-way trip. Jim flies the plane, but Woody invites himself along, much to Jim's irritation. They bomb the bridge too late to stop a crucial supply train from crossing. The aircraft is hit and catches fire. Jim bails out, expecting Woody to follow. However, Woody has concealed the fact he has been shot. He crashes into the train, destroying it at the cost of his own life.

Cast

  • John Wayne
    John Wayne
    Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

     - Capt. Jim Gordon
  • John Carroll
    John Carroll (actor)
    John Carroll was an American actor and singer. He was born Julian Lafaye in New Orleans, Louisiana....

     - Woodrow "Woody" Jason
  • Anna Lee
    Anna Lee
    Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...

     - Brooke Elliott
  • Paul Kelly
    Paul Kelly (actor)
    Paul Michael Kelly was an American child actor who later as an adult became a stage, film, and television actor.-Child actor:...

     - Hap Smith - Pilot
  • Gordon Jones - 'Alabama' Smith
  • Mae Clarke
    Mae Clarke
    Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...

     - Verna Bales
  • Addison Richards
    Addison Richards
    Addison Richards was an American film actor. He appeared in over 300 films between 1933 and 1964. He died from a heart attack...

     - Col. R.T. Lindsay
  • Edmund MacDonald - "Blackie" Bales - Pilot
  • Bill Shirley
    Bill Shirley
    Bill Shirley was an American actor, perhaps most famous for voicing Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty in 1959. Another famous voice role of his was an uncredited role as the singing voice of Freddy Einsford-Hill in My Fair Lady...

     - Dale
  • Tom Neal
    Tom Neal
    Thomas Neal was an American actor best known for appearing in the critically lauded film Detour, a tryst with Barbara Payton and later committing manslaughter.-Career:...

     - Reardon - Pilot
  • Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart - McCurdy - Pilot
  • David Bruce
    David Bruce (actor)
    David Bruce was an American film actor, known for his chilling performance as Ted Allison in The Mad Ghoul....

     - Lt. Barton - Pilot
  • Chester Gan
    Chester Gan
    Chester Gan or at times Chester Gann was an American actor of Chinese descent. If there was a quintessential Asian John Smith character, then Chester Gan was that person...

     - Mike - Mechanic
  • Jimmie Dodd
    Jimmie Dodd
    James Wesley Dodd was best known as the MC of the popular 1950s Disney TV show The Mickey Mouse Club, as well as the writer of its well-known theme song, "The Mickey Mouse Club March"...

     - "Mac" McIntosh - Pilot (as James Dodd)
  • Gregg Barton
    Gregg Barton
    Gregg Barton was an American actor.- Career :Barton was born in Oswego, New York U.S.. He is possibly best known for his role as Stan Richter in TV series The Gene Autry Show. He also played Clay Wagner in the TV western The Range Rider...

     - "Tex" Norton - Pilot

Production

Actual Flying Tigers Lawrence Moore and Kenneth Sanger were technical advisers but they had been dishonorably discharged from the AVG in February 1942. None of the real Flying Tigers are mentioned by name in this film, which went into production when the original AVG was still in operation.

Actual combat footage was used in some of the scenes. Movie models were used to portray the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft the Tigers actually flew, although they were only mock-ups which did no more than taxi. The covers protruding over the cylinder heads of the V-8 automobile engines that propelled the mock-ups are noticeable, and the aircraft lack elevators on the rear horizontal stabilizers. John Wayne's character arrives at the base on the one-off Capelis XC-12
Capelis XC-12
The Capelis XC-12 was a failed 1933 aircraft design that most notably was used as a non-flying prop in the 1939 film Five Came Back with Chester Morris and Lucille Ball, the 1942 movie, The Flying Tigers, starring John Wayne, and the 1942–1943 movie, Immortal Sergeant with Henry Fonda, Thomas...

, a failed design that found a new life as a non-flying movie prop. It also was used in the film Five Came Back
Five Came Back
Five Came Back is a 1939 melodrama and a precursor of the disaster film genre. The film was directed by John Farrow, photographed by renowned film noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, and written by Jerry Cady, Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West....

.

The goggles that John Wayne wears in the promotional posters is actually a set of tanker goggles.

Historical accuracy

The film had little to do with the American Volunteer Group
American Volunteer Group
The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War...

, the real "Flying Tigers"; unlike the movie characters, the AVG pilots were all recruited from active or reserve U.S. military forces, were in Asia with the knowledge and approval of the White House, and were in training, not yet in combat, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

. The actual AVG didn't fly its first combat mission until December 20, 1941- nearly two weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack.

John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

's character is nicknamed "Pappy." This was real-life Marine fighter ace Gregory Boyington's moniker. Boyington (the inspiration for the TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep
Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)
Baa Baa Black Sheep is a television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Pappy Boyington and his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell...

) did in fact fly with the Tigers until early 1942, at that point parting ways with the AVG and returning to the United States in order to be reinstated in the Marine Corps. However, Boyington was not the inspiration for Wayne's character. "Pappy" was a common nickname for an older man, particularly as a military commander, in those days. Besides this, Boyington was not widely known as "Pappy" until late 1943, when he commanded VMF-214 (the Black Sheep Squadron), well after this movie was released.

When Jim Gordon fires Woody Jason, Gordon stresses to him that the other pilots "have to fly." The date on the calendar is December 7, 1941. Though not spoken, the drama suggests Gordon means the men must fly to respond to the Japanese attack. But the time zone difference is not taken into consideration here. When Pearl Harbor is attacked at 7:55 AM Sunday Hawaiian time, it is 1:55 AM Monday December 8 in Kunming, China- 18 hours ahead of Hawaii.

The scene where Japanese soldiers
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 firing anti-aircraft cannons in the last bridge bombing were actually taken from footages of Chinese soldiers
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...

. This can be seen from the M1935 Stalhelm helmets that were only used by elements of the Chinese Army.

Flying Tiger Bert Christman's fighter had come under fire and been hit in the engine on Friday, January 23, 1942. He was forced to bail out. As he hung in his parachute and descended to the ground, a Japanese pilot strafed him. Bert was hit in several places and probably died as a bullet passed through the back of his neck. The cruel manner of Christman's death led to a great deal of media coverage in 1942. The Associated Press did a feature piece with illustrations that ran in papers around the country, and Paramount pictures did a short newsreel documentary about his life. Later in the year Christman was featured in war bond advertisements that read, "He gave his life, what will you give?".

External links

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