b/w photo with signed 4" by 6" paper
$675
SOLD
Vintage (1940's - 50's era) 8" by 10" photo of Claire
Chennault.
Chennault, Claire Lee (1893-1958), American
army officer,
born in
Commerce, Texas, and educated at Louisiana State
University.
In 1917,
during World War I, he joined the U.S. Army Air
Corps
and pioneered in
aviation pursuit tactics. He was an originator
of the
idea of using
paratroopers. In 1937 he resigned from the army
and became
aviation
adviser to the Chinese government, then at war
with Japan.
For the
Chinese air force he organized volunteer
American aviators
into a corps
known as the "Flying Tigers." The corps became
famous
for defending the
Burma Road, the Chinese supply route from India.
During
World War II
Chennault was recalled to American service as a
brigadier
general and in
1942 was given command of the China Air Task
Force. He
became a major
general in 1943, and from 1943 to 1945, when he
retired,
he led the 14th
U.S. Air Force, as well as the China Air Task
Force.
After the war he
returned to China and organized a commercial
airline,
which he later
directed from Taiwan. His autobiography, Way of
a Fighter,
was published
in 1949.