p51s

P-51Ds of the 46th Fighter Squadron, 21st FG, Iwo Jima.

P-51D of the 46th Fighter Squadron, 21st FG, Iwo Jima.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning and Northrop P-61 Black Widow. 4 July 1942, the AVG was replaced by the U.S. Army 23rd Fighter Group, which was later absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force with General Chennault as commander, thus these aircraft replaced the "Flying Tigers", which operated P-40s.

CASSIDY PHOTOGRAPHY Thanks for the comments/corrections!

This photo I took may interest you: www.flickr.com/photos/cassidyphotography/8107749971/in/ph... I have other photoss and close-up photos of cave. The command bunker (cave) was deliberately destroyed with a 2,000 pound bomb, to prevent it from falling into Japanese hands. I found an old crushed runway near Lijiang, China, in the mountains. That happens to be in the book written by John Toland, circa 1963, "The Flying Tigers". I photographed it. Supposedly it was used by Hump pilots and the Flying Tigers. I was told of a crash site, maybe Flying Tigers aircraft, between Lijiang and Shangri-la, China, by a former PLA Ranger, named Ah-Hui, from Lijiang. In 2007, I visited the gravesite of the "Flying Tigers", near Kunming. Sadly, all the graves were molested, headstones/grave markers strewn about, graves opened, with bones exposed. I have photos. There were Chinese Flying Tigers, but there are some supposed Flying Tigers aficionados who deny their existence.