Claire L. Chennault

Claire Lee Chennault (1893-1958) was an American military airman active in China during the 1930's and 1940's. Chennault started off as a US Army Air Corps instructor during World War I. After a career in the Corps during the interwar period, medical and relational issues led him to leave the service in 1937. In June of that same year, he joined China's nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, and became his aviation adviser. At the time, Chiang Kai-shek had retreated inland and was desperately trying to fight off both the Japanese Army and the thriving communist forces.

From 1940, in an attempt to create a proper aerial fighting force in ROCAF (Republic of China Air Force), Chennault requested the help of the American government. President Roosevelt, officially neutral in the conflict, agreed to a lend-lease program with the Chinese nationalist government. A batch of 100 Curtiss P-40 Warhawks were sent to China, and 300 American pilots and mechanics were recruited to form the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) - the famous "Flying Tigers". From the summer of 1941, the group flew seven months of combat missions in China and Burma against the Japanese. From July 1942, as the USA had joined the war, the AVG was dissolved and integrated into the USAAF. Chennault became the head of the newly-formed 14^th Air Force in China as Brigadier General, and later Major General.

After the war, Chennault remained in China as a civilian. In 1946, along with American diplomat Whiting Willauer, he founded CAT (Civil Air Transport), an airline which played a major role in supporting the Chinese nationalist forces, and helped evacuate thousands of them to Taiwan in 1948-1949. A major dispute arose in late 1949 when 12 CAT aircraft parked in Hong Kong were stolen by their crews and flown to Communist China. Chennault and Willauer undertook a lengthy procedure to get their hands on these airplanes, along with several other CAT and CNAC aircraft still in Hong Kong and claimed by the Communists. As a result, these aircraft were temporarily registered in Chennault's and Willauer's name. From 1951, CAT - by then a Taiwanese outfit - came under the control of the CIA which later turned it into Air America.

Chennault died of lung cancer in New Orleans in 1958.

• Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando: XT-164, XT-170, XT-172, XT-166, XT-168
• Curtiss C-46A-50-CU Commando: XT-??? / (42-96804)
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando: XT-??? / (43-47298), XT-??? / (43-47339), XT-??? / (43-47354), XT-814 (II), XT-??? / (43-47358), XT-??? / (43-47378), XT-??? / (43-47390), XT-114, XT-116, XT-120, XT-136, XT-148, XT-522
• Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando: XT-160, XT-162, XT-822 (II)
• Curtiss C-46D-15-CU Commando: XT-156 (I)
• Curtiss C-46D-20-CU Commando: XT-802