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         Old Leatherface: An American Masterpiece
                 by Joseph E. Bennett, MPS
          The Blue Friar Lecture of 1994 - Part I

Introduction
It has long been an opinion of this author that biographical literary
efforts relating to accomplishments of a Mason in the secular world serve
a most beneficent purpose. The identification of a subject as a member of
our Craft substantially enhances the image of Masonry among the uninitiated;
offsetting, to some extent, a little of the negative sentiment aimed at us.
We also experience a sense of great pride in sharing vicariously the triumph
and successes of a distinguished Mason. As a case in point, the name of
Claire Lee Chennault is offered for your consideration.

One cannot mention the name "Chennault" without conjuring up a vivid image
of the immortal Flying Tigers and their exploits in China during the early
days of World War II. During those unhappy times, when the Japanese military
machine threatened to devour the entire Pacific in their drive to the
western perimeter of the United States, Chennault and his Flying Tigers
provided the only victories in a bleak military litany of military disaster.
In the history of American arms, a mere handful of accomplishments equal
those of the Flying Tigers. Not one surpasses it. This came about through
the driving conviction of an aviation hero who braved every obstacle to
prove to a skeptical world that his concept of aerial warfare was the only
game in town.

Chennault was in China, where it all started, in July, 1937, when the
Japanese initiated open conflict with their capture of the Marco Polo Bridge
near Peiping. He was a civilian under contract to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-
shek and the Chinese Nationalists for the purpose of evaluating their air
force. Claire Chennault remained to fight Japanese and communists for twenty
years.

Early Life
It never occurred to the Chennault family that their new baby boy would
become one of the greatest flying heroes in history that day he was born on
September 6, 1890 in Commerce, Texas. In fact, flying was only a science-
fiction fantasy that received little attention, and would not become a
reality until after the turn of the century.

The first Chennaults arrived in the United States in 1778 as Huguenot vol-
unteers from Alsace-Lorraine, serving under the banner of the Marquis de La-
fayette. Steve Chennault, one of the brothers, was Claire's direct forebear.
His mother was a relative of Robert E. Lee, and his maternal grandfather
served with distinction as a surgeon for the Confederacy during the Civil
War. A strong tradition of military service was a way of life for the
Chennault family. Claire was reared in his grandfather's house after his own
father' s demise when the lad was five.

The boy grew up loving the outdoor life, particularly hunting and fishing.
His quieter hours were spent enjoying the literary adventures of Ben-Hur,
Tom Sawyer, Ivanhoe, and the like. Upon completion of public school,
Chennault enrolled in Louisiana State University. He soon transferred to
Louisiana State Normal School where he graduated with a teaching
certificate. Initially assigned to a troubled country school, he was obliged
to whip a man-sized eighteen year-old with his fists to maintain order.
Before long, Chennault, an enthusiastic baseball player, organized a school
team. As the team's pitcher, he led them to victory over all the competition
in Delta County. Life might have continued in that vein indefinitely had not
World War I intervened.

The Military
Claire enlisted as an infantry private in 1917, and ultimately attended
officer school at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, from which he was
commissioned a First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Reserve. In 1918,
following his first airplane ride, he applied for flight training and was
accepted. Although the war was over, Chennault received his wings in 1919
and was assigned to the First Pursuit Group at Montgomery, Alabama. he
nearly washed out of flight training for failing to conform to directions
of his instructor--perhaps an advance warning of a pattern that would soon
emerge as Chennault's personal philosophy of air combat tactics.
By 1923, he was busy writing articles dedicated to his theories of aerial
combat for any publication that would print his work. Unfortunately,
Chennault's ideas and those of the military hierarchy were at odds. This
troublesome junior officer rejected the Army Air Corps' conviction that
bombardment airplanes constituted the wave of the future, and when
well-armed, would eliminate the need for pursuit aircraft. By the time
Claire graduated from the Air Corps Tactical school in 1933, he had a
reputation as a recalcitrant non-conformer, not unlike General Billy
Mitchell a few years before.

Avoiding direct confrontation with higher authority over his theories, the
young aviator was recognized as a brilliant pilot in spite of his
controversial reputation. He was directed to form an aerobatic team to tour
the country and publicize the Army Air Corps, much like the current-day
precision flying teams of the military air services.

Selecting two pilots who, he was satisfied, would be able to follow his
maneuvers with mirror-image precision, Chennault began to rehearse his
"Three on a Flying Trapeze." His wingmen were Sergeants Luke Williamson and
Billy McDonald. They flew the vaunted Boeing P12 biplanes, elite pursuit
aircraft of the army. The team toured the country, including prominent
appliances at the famous Cleveland Air Races. They became so skilled that
Claire was able to tie all three planes together and execute their entire
flight routine from takeoff through landing with ropes intact.

The beginning of the end of Chennault's military career came with
publication in 1935 of his book, The Role of Defensive Pursuit, advocating
radical new theories of aircraft detection, interception, and destruction.
He was also suffering from some physical problems. Considered partially deaf
from his long exposure to engine noise in the open cockpit biplanes, he also
suffered the complications of chronic bronchitis. By early 1937, Claire was
confined to a military hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was being
urged to resign his commission. At age 47, after two decades in the
military, he had risen only to the rank of captain. With a wife and four
youngsters back home in Louisiana, the future looked bleak.

A Volunteer in China
Although a prophet without honor in the United States, Chennault was re-
garded as an important aviation visionary in other countries. He received
lucrative contract offers to develop his theories on aviation in both
Germany and Russia, but declined all offers until he was approached by
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese government offered a three-month
contract paying $1,000 per month, plus all expenses, if Claire would come
to China to evaluate their air program and training methods. He resigned his
army commission on April 30, 1937, and departed immediately for the Orient.
At the outbreak of hostilities in July 1937, Chennault volunteered his ser-
vices to Chiang Kai-shek, and was commissioned a colonel in the Chinese air
service. During this period he flew innumerable missions, testing his
theories under actual combat conditions. It is known that Chennault shot
down scores of Japanese aircraft during these years, enough to make him the
most prolific ace in American history, had he ever chosen to have the
victories verified. To Chennault, however, vindicating his theory on tactics
was of paramount importance.

The Japanese air force operated virtually unopposed in the early days of the
war, bombing non-military targets unmercifully and killing untold thousands
of Chinese civilians. Millions were forced to migrate into the remote
regions of western China. One mass migration of fifty million Chinese
occurred with the dismantled components of 600 factories physically
transported to inland locations by the refugees. Chennault's efforts during
these trying times, albeit heroic, were akin to a gnat attacking an
elephant. The fortunes of the Chinese improved little in the next few years.

In the spring of 1939 Chennault, convinced that the United States would soon
be drawn into a war with the Japanese, traveled to Washington to solicit
permission to organize an American volunteer flying group to fight in China.
He made little impression on the top military leadership, who still regarded
him as a nonconformist. Eventually--thanks to the assistance of Presidential
Advisor Thomas Gardiner Corcoran and Secretary of the Treasury Henry
Morgenthau, Jr.--Chennault succeeded in getting the attention of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt approved the volunteer idea and authorized
recruitment of pilots and aircraft mechanics from the military
services .

Chennault recruited 100 pilots and 150 aircraft mechanics from the U.S. Army
Navy, and Marine Corps. They were allowed to resign their commissions with
the assurance of reinstatement at the same rank upon application. As "em-
ployees" of the Chinese government, each pilot was promised a salary of $600
a month, plus a bonus for each Japanese plane shot down. Equipped with 100
obsolete Curtiss P40B's, the first group of Americans embarked on a neutral
freighter for the port of Rangoon, Burma, in the summer of 1941. In November
the same year, word was relayed to President Roosevelt by Chiang Kai-shek
that a Japanese attack on the United States was imminent. The warning went
unheeded.

Chennault's first order of business was to re-train the experienced AVG
pilots in his personal tactics, which were based on a two-airplane team,
much like the plan conceived by Oswald Boelke, the German ace in World War
I. Boelke's concept had given the "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen,
eighty confirmed victories in that war. The leader of the duet was the
attacker, with the wingman providing cover. Attack was always from above and
out of the sun. In this way, the P40, a much slower plane than the Japanese
Zero, could achieve the necessary speed for a firing pass during the dive.
Structurally, it was far superior to the Zero and could out-dive it. The P40
also outgunned its Japanese counterpart, thereby offsetting its inferior
speed and maneuverability.

Chennault's tactics were a phenomenal success . From December 18, 1941,
through July 4, 1942, the Flying Tigers destroyed 299 aircraft, with at
least another 300 unconfirmed victories. The AVG lost a total of eight
pilots. This was a monumental vindication of Chennault's combat theories,
and a testimony to his astute evaluation of the Japanese pilot and his
aircraft. In glaring contrast were the results achieved by the first dozen
Lockheed P38's to arrive in China in 1942, a group led by Michigan football
great, Tommy Harmon. Adhering to combat methods taught in the U. S. flight
schools, all the P38's were shot down on their initial mission.

Many changes occurred in 1942. On February 15, the port of Singapore fell
to the Japanese. Lieutenant General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell assumed
overall command of the China-India-Burma theater of operations, with head-
quarters in India. By April the Burma Road, main supply route from India to
China, was lost, making Chennault totally dependant on Stilwell for supplies
flown over the "Hump. " From the outset, both men were bitter adversaries.
Stilwell, a traditional infantryman, was convinced the war would be won on
the ground with the bayonet. The commander of the 10th Air Force, General
Clayton Bissell, was also a staunch foe of the "undisciplined" Flying
Tigers. When the U.S. government decided to integrate the AVG into military
service Bissell's supercilious treatment of the famous pilots resulted in
their mass resignation. Chennault salvaged only five original Flying Tigers
for his new 23rd Fighter Group, christened the China Air Task Force (CATF).
Chennault was returned to active duty as a brigadier-general.
The final installation of this lecture will appear in the next issue of The
Philalethes.