Though they don't use "Flying" in their name, the Tigers of VMFA 542 have been airborne since 1944, when they flew the Grumman Hellcat out of the Caroline Island. Over the years they flew the twin-engine Tigercat in the Korean War, the turbojet Phantom in the Vietnam War, and most recently the Harrier jump-jet in Operation Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. The Harriers are now being phased out, and the squadron is transitioning this year to the supersonic, stealthy, "fifth generation" fighter, the Lockheed F-35B Lightning II, which also has a tilt rotor to give it short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities. What's more, it can fly at 1.6 Mach (1185 mph), carry 15,000 pounds of weaponry, and hit a target 505 nautical miles distant and return on internal fuel.
While China had paid $93,000 for each of the AVG's P-40 Tomahawks (about two million of our much-debauched greenbacks), the F-35B clocked in at more than $115 million, while costing more than $9 million a year to fly. (The cost is supposed to drop over time.) The Tigers VMFA 542 (as the squadron is now designated) took delivery on the first of their new fighters at Cherry Point, North Carolina, on May 31.
Since the Smithsonian Institution published it in 1991,
Flying Tigers
has been the definitive history of the American Volunteer Group that
bloodied the Japanese Army Air Force in Burma and China for the first
six months of the Pacific War. HarperCollins published a second edition
in 2007 that was translated into Chinese, and nine years later I updated
that for Warbird Books. But new information about Claire Chennault and
the AVG never stops coming. Last year the US National Archives released
the Old Man's military records; a student of old newspapers discovered a
scandalous romance in Chennault's youth; and I got an email from an
unackowledged scion of that love affair. Then there was the earlier
discovery of Olga Greenlaw's two youthful marriages, all of which
called for yet another edition.
While I was at it, I have added a hardcover version for libraries and those who prefer a sturdier binding. If you shop at Amazon.com, the Kindle edition is $9.95, the paperback is $15.95, and the hardcover is $24.95. Blue skies! -- Daniel Ford
Question? Comment? Newsletter? Send me an email. Blue skies! — Daniel Ford
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