On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 18:09:13 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

a) Dan and Erik disagreed about what type of P-40 Erik flew, specifically
about whether the self-sealing material was on the outside or inside the
gas tanks. I believe Dan has agreed that Erik was correct on that issue
now.

Correct.

b) Dan claimed that Flying Tigers pilots bought kills off of British
pilots so that they could collect the AVG kill bonus.

Nonsense. Indeed, the book specifically refutes that story.

And overclaimed
like crazy. He justified that by citing a lack of Japanese records, in
spite of the fact that the Japanese burned their records by the truckload
as they retreated. He also made a big deal about the lack of wreckage, in
spite of the fact that much of the combat was over a mostly trackless
jungle where wrecks are still turning up now. I'm not sure if Dan has
modified his claims in his new book.

They didn't overclaim like crazy--they overclaimed like the US Marines
at Guadalcanal or the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Burma, by a
factor of 2.5 to 1. That level of overclaiming was just about
universal in World War II.

I did uncover some additional information, including the names of some
Japanese pilots lost over Burma, and the exact number of planes
destroyed by Jernstedt and Reed in their amazing strafe of Moulmein,
but the total number (110-120 Japanese planes destroyed) remains the
same.

Erik, by the way, helped a great deal in sorting out the oddities of
the AVG P-40s, and he is duly thanked in the preface to the new
edition. We got on pretty well after we took the discussion offline.
See for example www.warbirdforum.com/manual.htm for his running
commentary on the RAF pilot's manual.





Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com