The dark days at the beginning of World War II saw the Japanese victorious across the Pacific. Clair Chennault was called to China by Chiang Kai-shek to help his failing Chinese Air Force combat the Japanese Imperial Army. Chennault recruited one hundred American pilots as volunteers for the American Volunteer Group and they were secretly sent to China by ship. With one hundred and twenty P-40 fighters the “AVG” confronted the Japanese armed forces, decisively helping to stem the rising Japanese tide.
