Taiwan Air Force officials on Aug. 18 attended the "Wings Over Frederick Air Show" in Maryland, at which US spectators showed much interest in the Taiwan Air Force flag and posters.
This was the first time the Taiwan Air Force was represented at a foreign air show. The reason for the invitation was that a main theme of the air show was the "Flying Tigers."
The "Flying Tigers" was a group of volunteer aviators organized by then-brigadier general Claire Chennault to assist China in fighting Japanese forces with P-40 Warhawk single-propeller planes in the early stages of World War II.
After the US entered the war in the wake of the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the "Flying Tigers" became the US 14th Air Force and Chennault was officially appointed as its commander.
Chia Tse-min (
Chia said that the spectators' enthusiastic reaction could be seen in the fact that all the 6,000 Taiwan Air Force posters, hundreds of flags and other souvenirs handed out to spectators quickly ran out during the two-day show. Also, two leather jackets used by "Flying Tigers" pilots attracted much attention from American spectators.
During the show, three former "Flying Tigers" pilots, all now in their 80s, narrated the history of their participation in the war against Japanese forces in China and answered spectators' questions.
The organizer of the air show also exhibited a P-40 single-propeller plane used by the "Flying Tigers" as well as other military planes used by the air forces of the US and the former Soviet Union during World War II.
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