In 1993, I was traveling in China’s Yunnan Province near the border with Burma. I had heard that there was an old airfield nearby that had been used by the Flying Tigers during World War II — American volunteers who helped the Chinese resist Japanese invaders before the United States had entered the war.
Renting a bike, I rode out to a small village where I located the airfield. As I walked around it, an old man approached me and in broken English asked me if I was American. I said yes and told him I had come to see the old airfield. With that, his face lit up. He told me he had been a boy during the war and had befriended the volunteer pilots. He said he was very grateful to the U.S. for its help in defeating Japan.
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In early 1941, an aviator named Claire Chennault received permission to set up the American Volunteer Group in Kunming China — not far from the airfield I was visiting. At its peak, the AVG comprised some 70 U.S. pilots and 50 P-40 warplanes. Members were servicemen who would resign their commissions in the U.S. military and take up a commission with the AVG, fighting for the Republic of China in U.S. warplanes that had been sold to China and painted with Chinese markings.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, there was little appetite in the U.S. for war with Japan. But this scheme allowed people to help China in its war effort against Japan without the U.S. having to declare war.
There is an interesting analog here as the U.S. considers how to help Ukraine in the face of Russian imperialism.
Americans are currently in no mood to go to war with Russia. Still, they are incensed at Russia’s outrageous, naked aggression toward a weaker, peaceful neighbor. The situation was similar after 1931 with regard to Japan’s invasion and occupation of China.
So consider this proposition: The U.S. could designate for sale or for loan to the Ukrainian government 20-50 U.S. warplanes, such as the F-16 or F-15E, adding perhaps two or three EA-18Gs for electronic warfare. Or perhaps they would consider the venerable old A-10 ground attack airplane, which is being decommissioned — not a bad choice to attack the long lines of Russian vehicles currently making their way into Ukraine. The U.S. could designate these planes to Ukraine, painting that iconic shark’s mouth on the front (some A-10s already sport these), add some Ukrainian markings, and seek volunteers from among active duty or retired flyers.
Active-duty personnel would be offered the same sort of arrangement U.S. pilots were offered in the 1940s. They could resign their commissions as active-duty service members so as to sign on with the new American Volunteer Group, fighting for Ukraine against Russia. The U.S. could even reconstitute the AVG itself, putting such volunteer flyers under the command of a leader like Chennault.
There are volunteers eager to fight the Russians. A revival of the Flying Tigers would provide the means for them to help, all the while giving Ukraine the airpower it needs.
This would allow the U.S. to help Ukraine in a more robust, kinetic way without having to declare war on Russia or to deploy active-duty U.S. personnel — exactly the point of the AVG in 1941, before the U.S. was at war with Japan.
As an added bonus, it would be a great morale booster for Ukrainian forces to see the U.S. fight alongside them in a more direct way as they defend their homeland against Russia’s new imperialism. And who knows — it might be enough to stop or further slow the Russian onslaught.
A revival of the Flying Tigers would serve as a needed reminder for Russian President Vladimir Putin that the West is not a paper tiger that will just stand by as he unleashes his military power against a peaceful neighbor.
Finally, by basing such a unit in Ukraine and using aircraft with Ukrainian markings, this approach avoids the political problems that come with a no-fly zone. It would not broaden the conflict to NATO nations by placing NATO service members flying from NATO bases in NATO planes with NATO markings over the conflict zone.
Putin has said he would consider the imposition of a no-fly zone as just such a broadening of the conflict. An AVG unit would place volunteers, not active-duty U.S. or NATO personnel, in Ukrainian planes flying with Ukrainian markings for the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian civilians would never forget this act of kindness. They would likely display the same gratitude I experienced in rural China in 1993 just for being an American, through the merits and bravery of an earlier generation of AVG flyers.
Greg Moore is a professor of global studies and politics at Colorado Christian University.
