C O M M I T M E N T S T O C H I N A
the problem had been suggested by a retired Air Corps officer, Claire
L. Chennault, who since 1937 had been serving as special adviser to
the Chinese Air Force.
Known to Americans chiefly as a member of the “flying trapeze”
team which over preceding years had electrified spectators at air
shows and races by its demonstration of formation flying, Chennault
was also a diligent student of fighter tactics.’ Having been retired
from the Army in 1937 because of defective hearing, he promptly
accepted the opportunity offered to him by the Chinese government to
put some of his theories into practice under combat conditions. In
China, he found the procurement of necessary equipment, even be-
fore the outbreak of war in Europe, an increasingly difficult problem
for the Chinese Air Force. T h e Soviet Union had become after 1939
the main source of supply, 3 source cut off by her entry into war in
June 1941. Recognizing a trend of events that ultimately would
permit the Japanese to bomb Chinese targets a t will, and convinced
at the same time that the United States eventually would have to
fight Japan, Chennault already had turned to the idea of recruiting
for service in China an international air force that would include
American planes manned by American pilots. T h e participation of
German, Russian, and Italian airmen in the Spanish civil war offered
a precedent for action against the Japanese; such action would pro-
vide, he believed, valuable experience for the Americans.1°
Haviny secured the agreement of Generalissimo Chiang-Kai-shek,
Chennault returned to the United States early in 1941 with Gen.
P.T. Mow of the Chinese Air Force. T o the latter’s attempt to secure
aid for a long-ranqe prosram that would rebuild the Chinese Air
Force, Chennault lent assistance, but he was more active in an
effort to put across his idea of an international air force. In Wash-
ington he was aided by Chinese Foreign Minister T.V. Soong, and
after preliminary discussions with the War, Navy, and State depart-
ments, Chennault presented the plan at the White House. There were,
of course, arguments against the proposal, but the current trend of
events argued strongly for it. T h e precedent in Spain might be dis-
missed as of doubtful validity, but to stand on the niceties af inter-
national law only to permit China to fall a complete victim of Japanese
aggression was also a disturbing suggestion. T h e clinching argument
was the inescapable necessity to provide aerial protection for the
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