How did the name "Flying Tigers" come from?

P-40 Eagle Fighter is a new type of fighter, which is composed of a P-36 fighter body designed and produced by Curtis Company and a V- 17 10- 19 liquid-cooled engine developed by Allison Engine Company. In terms of performance, the performance of the P-40 is mediocre compared with the Axis fighters in the early 1940s. However, it was born in time and became the only single-seat fighter that entered the mass production stage when the United States officially entered the war in 194 1. Therefore, this kind of aircraft was not only used by the US military for its own use, but also used by a large number of military assistance to the Allies, and became a landmark aircraft for the Allied operations in the early World War II. 1944165438+10 P-40 stopped production in October, and a total of 13738 fighters were produced, ranking third in the US fighter production record; All P-40 s are produced in Buffalo, new york.

P-40' s famous record was created in the battlefield of East Asia. Flying Tigers is an aerial mercenary unit founded by American pilot Chennault. At the beginning of World War II, it fought against the Japanese army with sharp edges and won many victories. The shark mouth painted on the chin of its engine has become a well-known symbol of P-40 painting.

After the fighters purchased by the Soviet Union were exhausted, American aid fighters seized the vacancy of China Air Force in time, and the P-40 became one of the aid models in China at that time, which became the core of confrontation between China and the Japanese Air Force in the middle and late period. Because the pilots of China Air Force didn't adapt well to this new type of aircraft, the first batch of American-aided fighters were finally delivered to the Flying Tigers formed by Chennault. The nose of the team's P-40 plane usually draws a shark's big mouth and sharp eyes, originally to make it look like a shark. The idea is based on the painting of the P-40 of the Royal Air Force Australia Force in North Africa.

There are many legends about this painting and the name of the team, but the most credible one is that China people who have been hiding from the alarm for a long time are very excited to see the team bravely fighting against the Japanese in the air and gaining the upper hand, but the residents near Hengyang have lived inland for a long time and don't know what a shark is. Seeing its maw painting, they intuitively recognized it as a "flying tiger". This is just in line with the idiom word of mouth, word by word, and it became the "Flying Tigers". Hearing this wrong message, the members of the American Volunteer Flying Team liked it very much. It is unique and like China, which can highlight the existence of its own unit. They passed it on to the upper level and got the same opinion. Finally, after obtaining permission, it became the official name of media promotion. This is the origin of the name of the Flying Tigers, which will be famous overseas in the future.