Among these air combat heroes, the "Four Heavenly Kings" are the most representative. By 1941, at the most severe moment of the anti-Japanese situation, a "volunteer army" hired by the Chongqing authorities came from afar from the United States.

Author: Iron Hammer Jack

Statement: The Soldiers are original, and plagiarism will be prosecuted

In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese Air Force, which had a backward technical equipment, still took off to the sky to fight the enemy with an absolute number of Japanese aviation troops, and fought desperately with the invaders at an altitude of thousands of meters. Among these air combat heroes, the "Four Heavenly Kings" (Gao Zhihang, Li Guidan, Le Yiqin, and Liu Cuigang) are the most representative.

By 1941, at the most severe moment of the anti-Japanese situation, a "volunteer army" hired by Chongqing authorities came from afar from the United States. Under the leadership of Chennault, it flew a P-40 fighter with a shark mouth and took off with the Chinese pilots to fight the fierce Japanese invaders . Among these "American Flying Tigers" flying in the blue sky, there is a US ace called Tex Hill, who later flew fighter jets and swept the Japanese army with machine guns and bombs on the Nujiang River.

The shark's mouth echoes the blue sky and white sun flag. A "flying tiger" with wings is also drawn on the side of the fighter parked on the runway. That's right, these people are the famous " Flying Tigers "

"Tex" full name is David Lee Hill (David Lee Hill), and "Tex" is just his nickname. On July 13, 1915, Hill was born in a family of elders in Gwangju, South Korea. After graduating from Austin University in 1938, Hill chose to join the army. After obtaining the pilot qualification certificate in 1939, Hill first flew the SB2U "Defender" bomber on the US Navy's "Assaulter", and then transferred to the "Saratoga" torpedo attack aircraft in the TBD "Rabberer" .

In 1941, Chennard secretly recruited a group of pilots from the fourth army of the sea, land, air and marines in the United States. After hearing that going to China, "there are a lot of money to get, the devils to kill, and the most important thing is to fight." After , Hill soon joined the "Gold Hunting Group" called "The 1st Volunteer Flight Team of the United States Aid China". After receiving relevant training for the P-40 fighter in Myanmar , the young naval pilot soon joined the 2nd Deporter Squadron (nicknamed "Panda") as a fighter pilot and will soon become a fierce general under Chennard.

Hill's portrait when he was studying at the University of Austin

Hill's "first drop of blood" began on January 3, 1942. At that time, Hill and another pilot, Jim Howard, were ordered to go to Tak Airport in Thailand for a strafing mission. During the flight, Hill encountered two Japanese Type 97 fighter . After a fire exchange, the two "plaster flags" disappeared into the air and became burning and falling wreckage. On November 23, Hill attacked again, and this time, two more 197 aircraft of were hit by him and caught fire and fell to the ground. The next day in , Hill started another killing over Rangoon. shot down a fighter and a bomber from the Sun Army. successfully became an air combat ace.

In March 1942, Hill took over Jack Newkirk and took charge of the command of the Panda Squadron. When the "Flying Tigers" disbanded in July 1942, Hill had won one 12 and four points in the battle!

The "Nujiang Blocking Battle" in 1942 was another big move by Hill in the Flying Tigers. When the first battle to enter Myanmar failed, most of the Chinese expeditionary forces chose to retreat to their country through the Wild Man Mountain. The arrogant Japanese army actually tried to track the retreating expeditionary force, trying to kill all the way across the Nujiang River and headed straight to Kunming. On May 8, 1942, according to the aerial reconnaissance of the "Flying Tigers", trucks, armored vehicles and tanks carrying Japanese infantry, artillery have been killed to the east bank of the Nujiang River. Without further ado, Chennard immediately ordered eight P-40s to launch a bomb and fly south. Half an hour later, Hill saw a Japanese convoy trapped on the road and unable to move. With a "attack", eight P-40s rushed towards the Japanese army at the same time. For a time, aviation bombs, machine gun bullets, and aviation shells hit the unprepared Japanese soldiers.The gravel fell down and blocked the road. The Japanese soldiers in panic were just rushing to escape and didn't even have time to shoot in the air with machine guns!

8 P-40s did not choose to return until all ammunition was exhausted, and there were no casualties for the pilots. On the contrary, the Japanese convoy was trapped between gravel and vehicle wreckage and could not move. After that, the Flying Tigers cooperated with the Soviet-style "Sbo" bombers of the Chinese Air Force and took turns to dispatch, sending a complete Japanese light armored troops and fuel vehicle supply column to hell. The Japanese invaders on the ground were even more casualties, and the howlings of ghosts and wolves were endless. After this operation, the Japanese army no longer dared to make any attempts on the other side of the Nujiang River.

Flying Tigers urgently dispatched

Flying Tigers' P-40 attacked in groups

Flying Tigers' disbanded, Hill joined the US Army Air Force (USAAF) troops together with four other "old flying tigers". After entering the 75th Fighter Squadron of the 23rd Fighter Brigade, he won appreciation with his wisdom, courage and courage. He first awarded the rank of Major , led the 75th Fighter Squadron, and was later promoted to colonel, commanding the entire 23rd Fighter Brigade.

In the "Thanksgiving Offensive" in 1943, Hill led 12 B-25 bombers, 10 P-38 fighters and 8 P-51 fighters to launch a bold long-range raid on the Japanese airport in Shinchiku from Sichuan. When the fleet arrived near the sky above Hsinchu, the Japanese army took off seven fighter jets and tried to intercept them, but they were all fireballed by the US planes. After killing the troubled guards, these "Satans" dropped bombs after bomb at Hsinchu Airport. The Japanese ground staff had no time to evacuate the hundreds of fighter planes parked on the runway, and could only rush to escape. This operation destroyed a total of 42 Japanese planes, while the US side had no casualties!

When he was in the Flying Tigers, Hill had repeatedly driven P-40 with his comrades to sweep the Japanese airport in a low altitude, and fired one Japanese military aircraft coated with "plaster".

Before returning to China in late 1944, Hill achieved a total of 18.25 Japanese fighter jets. The reason why had the result of "0.25" was because he was a Type 97 fighter that he shot down with three other pilots at that time. Hill himself is also the first American pilot to shoot down the "Ship Zero" of the Sun Army in the P-51 Mustang. He himself has a total of 6 battle records on the Mustang fighter jets.

Hill

Colonel Hill (the first person from right) took a photo in Sichuan in 1944 in 1944. When the Flying Tigers were disbanded, four former Flying Tigers members stood in front of a P-40 fighter plane that had fought side by side with them to take a photo. From left to right are Major John R. Allison; Major David Lee Hill; Captain Albert J. Baumler and Lieutenant Mark A. Mitchell.

At the end of 1944, after returning to China, Hill immediately took over the 412th Fighter Team of the United States (the first experimental unit equipped with jet fighters in the United States, including the P-59 "Air Comet", P-80 "Meteor", etc.). Less than a year after accepting the brigade, Hill announced his withdrawal from the U.S. Army Air Force and joined the 136th Fighter Team of the brigade in July 1946. He also won the title of "youngest brigade general" in the history of the National Guard. However, Hill no longer rushed into battle. His main task is to lead his officers and soldiers to patrol the bay, coastline areas and other auxiliary work

1968, "Once he smashed the bomb on the head of the Japanese and tilted the bullet on the face of the Japanese." Hill, who was discharged from the army. On October 11, 2007, the former "Flying Tiger Veteran" died at the age of 92 in Terrell Hills, Texas.

1943 On March 27, 1943, Hill and Mez Sali held a wedding. The two got married.

Hill gave the Japanese army in Hsinchu on Thanksgiving Day in 1943, which shows the damage caused to the Hsinchu airport by its bombing.

2006, Hill and his wife, who stood in front of the American National Aviation Memorial Wall,

Hill is located in the tombstone of Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. It can be seen that he has won the Silver Star Medal and the Excellent Service Cross Medal (second only to the Medal of Honor).