76th FS

American Volunteer Group Claire Chennault & the FLYING TIGERS Claire Chennault (biography)	In 1939, Claire L. Chennault, a retired Army Air Force captain, accepted the gigantic task of reorganizing Chiang-Kei-shek’s fledging air force. During the summer of 1941, a group of unorthodox, yet talented, aviators recruited by Chennault formed the American Volunteer Group. With no more than 30 obsolete P-40’s, painted with grinning mouths of sharks and bloody tongues, a foreboding sight to the enemy, the “Flying Tigers” represented a staunch, frontier force operated by pilots who relied on teamwork, initiative,
ingenuity, superior tactics and fighting spirit. When absorbed into the Army Air Force, The Tigers conducted effective fighter and bomber operations along a 5,000 mile front from Chunking and Chengtu in the north, to Indo-China in the south, from the Tibetan Plateau in Burma to the west, to the China Sea and Formosa in the east, despite ongoing shortages of supplies and gasoline. Chennault established a highly efficient ground observer warning net that pinpointed Japanese aerial activities and helped the Fourteenth repulse two major Japanese drives into South China. By May of 1945, the tide turned in favor of the Fourteenth as U.S. planes destroyed 2,135 enemy aircraft, over 400 ships, over 800 bridges, over 1,000 locomotives and almost 60,000 ground troops. As the war drew to a close, the Fourteenth blossomed into full maturity as a powerful striking force, an organization that evolved from meager beginnings because its personnel -- from General Chennault to the basic mechanic -- erased the word “defeat” from its vocabulary.
3^rd Pursuit Squadron Hells Angles	76^th Pursuit Squadron 76^th Fighter Squadron
Originally called the "American Volunteer Group", the Flying Tigers became the spearhead of U. S. offensive action against the Japanese in the CBI theatre of operations. It is from this AVG that the 23rd Fighter Group was born and with the original three pursuit squadrons becoming the backbone of the 23d FG, continued the impressive record of victory that began with the AVG. The 1st pursuit squadron, aka "Adam and Eve Squadron" became the 74th Fighter Squadron. The 2nd Pursuit Squadron, aka "The Panda Bears" became the 75th Fighter Squadron. The 3rd Pursuit Squadron, aka "Hell's Angles", became the 76th Fighter Squadron. This is the history of the third, the 76th Fighter Squadron.