Pappy Boyington & The Flying Tigers

Born poor and broke during most of his life, Pappy Boyington, after completing aviation school at Pensacola, Flora, finds himself volunteering in 1941 to join the Flying Tigers, a volunteer group of American fighter pilots who were persuaded to fly combat missions against the Japanese Air Force in China. His wages were $675 a month plus $500 for any enemy plane they shot down. After a long sea and air trip to China, which mostly consisted of heavy drinking and womanizing, Boyington and his fellow pilots are confronted with the dreary and dangerous life of P-40 pilots. Whatever their stated motives, they learned quickly that "this would be a struggle for survival and not for money" (51). Boyington quickly became disillusioned with Nationalist China, which he summed up as an unfaithful ally which was diverting American war supplies for their private political purposes. Boyington liked the air combat but did not hold a particularly high opinion of General Claire Chennault, the head of the Flying Tigers who was "old-school Army that hated the Marines" (98). He then w

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Approximate Word count = 835
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)