3 Review(s)

The incredible story of the 'Flying Tigers', America's volunteer airmen in China. In Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America's Missing Airmen in China during World War II, historian Daniel Jackson, himself a combat-tested pilot, sheds light on the stories of downed aviators who attempted to evade capture by the Japanese in their bid to return to Allied territory. In gripping detail, he reveals that the heroism of these airmen was equaled, and often exceeded, by the Chinese soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to return them safely to American hands. Amazingly, his comprehensive research even shows that helping downed American airmen transcended the deep political divisions of wartime China, with Nationalists, Communists, and even alleged collaborators realising the commonality of their struggle against the Japanese. Drawing extensively on sources and interviews in the United States and China, Jackson vividly sketches an epic historical drama documenting the astonishing extent of Sino-American cooperation. Fallen Tigers is an incredible story of survival amid a brutal war, insightfully illustrating the relationship between missing American airmen and their Chinese allies who were willing to save their lives at any cost. Based on thorough archival research and filled with compelling personal narratives from memoirs, wartime diaries, and dozens of interviews with veterans and war survivors, Fallen Tigers will appeal to history buffs and scholars interested in WWII, U.S. military aviation, and international relations between the United States and China. AUTHOR: Daniel Jackson is a Combat Aviation Advisor with the US Air Force Special Operations Command. His is the author of The Forgotten Squadron: The 499 th Fighter Squadron in World War II and Famine, Sword, and Fire: The Liberation of Southwest China in World War II. 20 b/w photographs, 10 maps, 6 charts