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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/048612c846fd483c1dd454599f83e5f2.mp4
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PDF Text
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Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 1]
SA:
I flew for Eastern Airlines for a while, got out of that and I was doing - there were a
hundred things to do up there. I told you I went to the University of South Carolina. I had
a pretty good athletic background. The thing that really got me interested in flying was an
engineer I was working with on the roads. I had one of those easy, so-so jobs, $100 a
month which was a lot of money in those days. But this guy says, "You know I have this
book here you might want to read," and I says, "Sure". That was a book about the early
days of World War I, by Elliot Springs who later became a [?]. People kept asking me
one after the other. I said one time, I said to this engineer, I said, "I read this book and
I've contacted a friend of mine who has gone through this things, and he said it's a real
tough deal to get into flying these days because there's no money and this is the words
depression we've ever had, and all that stuff, and I just happened to get in, and to get in
wasn't just a simple thing. You had to go to your Congressman, write to so and so and so
and so, and I did all this and the guy in – I joined a bunch of other people about ten
people down at Montgomery Alabama for a test, final test, examination and if you passed
that, they had some pretty good … So I …you don't mind me saying "hell" do you? Sure
enough, I was two of the ten who got through - I was on my way then. I had a friend who
owned the [?] and he was a fine person, lived in a little, small town, his son was going to
Tulane and he said, "Skipper, I know you from way back and you're the kind of guy that
will go to a dance and get drunk and everything else and teach Sunday School next
morning. If you pass this thing, come on down to New Orleans and we'll help you
celebrate and he'd pay the bill. And he did, and I did. And that was a great idea - and
Mardi Gras, that was really something, something fine, and for a man who likes to eat as
much as I do, and occasionally drink - but I thought it was a good idea, and I got in. [?]
…it wasn't easy in those days, but I got in. And the first thing you know, the
Commandant, pulled out a long list of names, A-A-A, obviously he's going to start with
1
�the names [?] this little fellow was - I've forgotten his name but he was ahead of me …all
right Mr. so-and-so, you're designated. He started hemming and hawing and said, "I can't
do that and do this", and he went down the second name, "Skip Adair, Brian Adair, are
you willing to accept the responsibility in this, you'll be the top dog in this whole class?"
I said, "Yes sir" because I never turn down an opportunity to prove myself, and that's
what it amounted to, I understand. I was looking at the best line instructor in the air force
to teach me. He did a good job of teaching.
FB:
Once you followed through with that…
SA:
What do you want to put in the year book? I said, "Travel" because that's what I wanted
to do, and I said "Okay". What was the original thing we were talking about, I've
forgotten.
FB:
After you were finished up, you were training under one of the best trainers in the air
corps. What happened after that?
I got through class, two of them, and after graduation, I was sent to this place in Virginia
- Chesapeake Bay, a fine place to start out for a young officer. I did that and Chennault
came by one day and he just came in - he was visiting. I didn't know him from anything,
and he had a couple of friends - that I had - joint friends with him. He said, "Come on
Skip, we're going out on Chesapeake on my boat, and Chennault's coming along too." So
we did, and that's the only time I met him so I doubt very much whether he'd remember
meeting me. But things were different when we got into China, very different. For some
reason he seemed to take a … he said, "This is the kind of guy I want to do this and that
and the other". He never told me about it, we'd go hunting together, shoot those …drink
bourbon, not to any excess but we did. That was pretty good, good deal. What else do
you want?
SA:
FB:
When did you - the first time that you went to the Gulf?
SA:
[?] Stratton, a good friend of mine from Texas, the classmate of mine, I wrote him a letter
that I would like to come out there - they don't have a job at the moment and what do you
think? He wrote back immediately and said, "Yes, you'll be perfect for this job." So,
we'll send $1,000 check from the Bank of China for this thing and you just come on out
here when you want to. So I went.
2
�FB:
What were they asking you to do? What were your duties to be for this $1,000? What
were you supposed to do?
SA:
Teach the Chinese, as simple as that, that was the only thing. Not a fighting deal or
anything like that, that's all it was. What else?
FB:
Why did you want to go to China to begin with?
SA:
Because I got $500 a month. Was that a good reason? In a time when I never made more
than $100 a month. Okay?
FB:
What did you know about China at that time?
SA:
What did I know about it? What I learned in school and studying. I'm pretty good on
geology and geography. I had no particular preparation for it. I couldn't speak Chinese,
nobody could. We all had to use interpreters.
FB:
Where did you go in China? Where were you actually stationed to teach these Chinese?
SA:
Kunming, Kunming was the first place I went to. They sent me up to a little place called
Yunanyi and they had about six Americans there. Some of them had been there two
years. I'd been there ten days before Chennault flew up from Kunming to Yunanyi and
said, "Skip, the Chinese want you to be the boss of this outfit," I didn't know whether
that was true or not - whether he wanted me to do it, I don't know. He said, "Are you
willing to take it? It won't be any more money." I said, "Yes sir". I'm the kind of guy
that - I've always done that - opportunity to take responsibility, I took it. In this case, it
worked out pretty good.
FB:
What did you find at first in Kunming and then later on? What was the state of the
Chinese Air force at that time?
SA:
Practically non-existent. We had one outfit with about ten bombers in it. They had a long
history of being taught by Russians and by the Germans and one thing and another, but
Chennault went over there about first two years before I did, and he was unbeatable in a
fighter plane, he shot down half a dozen of those things - just like shooting ducks in a
pond or something. What he was doing was running an outfit and improve the character
3
�of the Chinese pilots. We were not supposed to teach Chinese students, instruct and check
on them, and be sure they were worth having, which is what we did. So that was that.
Now what?
FB:
The Chinese Air Force at that time, what kind of airplanes were you training in? What
were the facilities like?
SA:
Very obsolete planes, one seaters, as a matter of fact, the same type of plane that some of
the classmates of mine flew. I didn't ever fly them except as occasionally out of interest.
What I had was the best planes, newest ones, and I was taught in that. We were the
subject of a lot of derision by other students, who said, "You've got it easy! You're
pushbutton pilots. That kind of stuff. Well, that's baloney. But I did get to fly the best
planes they had at that time.
FB:
Had you decided to ask your wife to come out to China, or was that later?
SA:
A lot of pilots had wives out there already and I said, well, I may as well have too, so I go
to Chennault and he says, "Yes, go ahead, bring her out". Well, she came out - and out of
Hong Kong, and one of my friends, Madam Chiang, - personal airplane, - she flew in
from one place into Kunming up to the place where I was. By the way [?] which was the
first and most lovely home and nobody in China had a home like that, the rest of them
were just junk. You'd pull out the gun and shoot rats off the rafters and things like that.
This was a good place and my wife was flown up in this beautiful C43 by an American
pilot with the permission of Chiang Kai Shek, isn't that so? Anything else you want to
know?
FB:
We're going to change the tape now…
4
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v01
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 1 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair discusses his background before becoming involved with the American Volunteer Group and his first meeting with Claire Chennault in Chesapeake Bay.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1512ee98c41af140741c3444d053fa5f.mp4
19f645a4bd9bf113c640644559fb0b0f
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e7abf957ae3c9216db82932f4b7bd7d0.pdf
b5007fc480f6e5de532070199ae4f55d
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 2]
FB:
Did you ever witness him (Chennault) fighting the Japanese?
SA:
No, I never witnessed - but I've seen and read so much about him, and I knew so much as a matter of fact, he was head of the air force, fighter division, down in Montgomery
and when he first went out to China, he took off and did a one man air force. According
to what I've heard, I didn't see it and I didn't see it, but I know he shot down at least a half
a dozen of them. But when I arrived on the scene, he said - I don't remember now - I'll
tell you he - there are so many things, I'm trying to pick out the important things, the
things that will be interesting to you.
FB:
Whatever you want to talk about is fine, but what you're talking about I think, is what we
were talking about in the kitchen, when he said, "Skip do you want to fight in airplanes?
SA:
Yeah, that's one of the things. I asked him point blank what that was - "Are you and I are
going to fight in this war," and he said, "No, nobody, not you or I either. We've got our
own jobs and somebody's got to run this outfit." The implication was that either one of
us got hurt, it would be a blow, which it would be.
FB:
Let's go back to the early days in Kunming in China, can you tell us about your
observations of the Japanese bombings?
SA:
Yeah. We'd go out and sit on a hilltop somewhere and watch them. We always had this
warnings, we knew they were coming, then we'd spot them in the sky. They'd be up
maybe 20,000 ft., something like that, and they'd start dropping these bombs and boy,
when they hit you could see them hit, big explosions all over town and it kind of made us
1
�mad, naturally. Chennault and myself and everybody else connected with this thing
wanted to see what could be done. I guess the most harrowing experience I've had was, I
was up in a brand new little fighter plane, we'd just got it into China. I was trying it out,
sat in it and one thing and another for half an hour. I had sense enough to come on back
then, pulled the plane up and went along into town where my house was, and you know
what? The Japanese came on that thing and just [?] the hell out of that airplane I'd been
in just a few minutes ago. I was just lucky that I wasn't sitting - there was nothing I could
do about it but hide and run. That was the closest I've ever been.
FB:
Why would you say the Chinese were not able to defend themselves against the
Japanese?
SA:
That's a leading question I would prefer not to answer.
FB:
At this time, the Japanese had a lot of airplanes, they had a lot of investment into the
military. They also had pilots that were very well trained. You were just training the
instructors who then had to go out and train - it was a long process just to learn how to
fight.
SA:
You might say that until the AVG days - we're talking about before the AVG - that's
nothing, there was absolutely nothing you could do about those Japanese. They had a
field day. It's simple! I can't think of anything easier. Nobody shooting at them. We had
a few pilots, some outstanding fighter pilots - they were capable of doing something, but
they didn't have the equipment or anything else.
FB:
Skip, my intention was not to give you a leading question - I'll tell you why I asked that we've already interviewed some of the Chinese that were those pilots and they basically
said that there was no way of stopping them.
SA:
I don't remember that, but I have never known any of them to shoot one of them down.
I'm sure it must have happened, but I'm not aware of it, certainly not while I was there.
FB:
Were you a part of the discussions with Chennault about the difficulties he was having in
training the Chinese and what alternatives you had to fight against the Japanese?
2
�SA:
To a certain extent. I don't think I had a great deal. He had his own ideas made up and
there was nothing I could say or do to him about it.
FB:
When did you first hear that he was going to start up an American Volunteer Group?
SA:
I guess it was about the time I left China, somewhere along about that time. We knew it
was going to happen, and the reason we knew it, he and I in the States had made a $50
million loan and that was the purpose of getting some airplanes. It was all a secret thing,
nobody ever put in the paper or said anything. No. Everything I did was quiet and
absolutely no ………I got on the boat to China, you think I said I was going over there to
fight? Hell, no! I was a newspaper writer I think, yeah, that's what I was. Later on, when
I was recruiting these boys, we all gave them a sign, some kind of identification. That's
the way we did that - we were very quiet. So, one day, all hell broke loose as far as I'm
concerned when this joker from Florida who was probably a pretty good friend of
Roosevelt, Franklin D. Anyway, he was testing the wings, when he said, "This AVG is
going to be …Blah, blah, blah, let the whole goddam thing go". Well, before that we had
nothing, absolutely nothing. We kept it shut and quiet, the whole way, that's what we
were supposed to do, otherwise the Japanese would sink every goddam boat [?]. We
signed nothing. So even then I was mad at Chennault and everybody else the matter had
become public, that it was going to happen. Everybody I hired, and I hired a lot of them to everyone I said, "Don't say anything about this".
FB:
Let's get to that point then. You returned back to the United States after training the
Chinese - you decided to return to the United States - why did you then decide to go back
to China?
SA:
I was going back I think because everybody knew the whole deal was over. When I got
back - Chennault and I, besides playing a few rounds of golf on the course there, he said,
"I want you to meet somebody," and I met T.V. Soong, Dr. T.V. Soong. He was the
money man of [?] at that time and Mr. Chennault said, "This is Mr. Adair and we're going
to use him to recruit," and he just nodded his head. That's about all there was to it. He
didn't ask me any questions. Chennault wanted it. That was it.
FB:
What were you told to tell, or what were you looking for when you went out to recruit
these various people for the AVG? What were you told to tell them and what did you
actually find when you went out looking for them?
3
�SA:
I wasn't so much told what to tell them, but in general I said, "We're building up a group
of fighter pilots to defend the Burma Road." The Burma Road was the only lifeline, you
understand that? All right, that was the whole deal. That's about it. Anything else you'd
like to know about it, I'd be glad to answer it.
FB:
Of these men that you were going to recruit, when they came in to see you, can you give
us some idea of some of the personalities of some of the people who [?] you or …?
SA:
That's a – of what I thought, and I had had enough experience all the way in the air force
one way and another, about 5,000 miles in the air. I had all this [?] I didn't have to do
anything. I didn't make up any lies or anything, I told the truth. As a matter of fact when I
got back, I said, "One of these guys told me, he surprised me, he said, "You're a soft sell".
I don't know if I was a soft sell or not but I got two or three hundred people, and I got a
few bums in there, but most of them were good. Anything else?
FB:
Once you had done the recruiting, give us an idea of how you went from base to base
looking for - you were travelling across the country looking for people?
SA:
Yeah - a list, and bases, eight or nine air force bases, and most of them had P-40's or
something like that they trained on. I was given a letter identifying me, a very simple
thing. "This will introduce Mr. C.B. Adair who will explain the nature of his business."
That doesn't say much does it, but that's exactly the way it was. So I went. A lot of these
guys that walked into the base were classmates of mine. They all said, "I'm not gonna let
this guy go." I said, "You have nothing to say about it." He picked up the telephone and
"call Personnel right now if you want to." Some of them did call. I was given the freewheel to go ahead, they didn't cooperate and get a group of them together - I talked to the
group. I didn't go one by one or anything like that. I had a long list of requirements
Chennault had put up. He wanted a [?] of the so-and-so, all different mechanics. Different
phases of it he would go through and spell it out, how much they would get in salary. I
didn't much like that but I was innocent more than the pilots.
FB:
In terms of the pilots themselves, you were looking specifically for pilots that had P-40
experience, is that correct?
SA:
Yeah.
4
�FB:
What did you actually find in terms of pilots?
SA:
Some of them had P-40 experience and some of them didn't. When I got down to San
Antonio when this R.T. Smith and P.J. Green - they were there - they had never been in a
fighter plane in their life. They knew what the hell it was all about, they were the kind of
guy that I wanted, and I hired them. You know something? They're both aces. You know
what an ace is? Five or more.
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v02
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 2 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair describes the early days working with General Chennault in Kunming, China and the early discussions of the American Volunteer Group and their recruitment efforts.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d62b95fb0fd3ac5f68505115be35ee6.mp4
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PDF Text
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Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 3]
SA:
… maybe someone in administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt, he was a man of his own, he
knew what he wanted to do, I'd never make any criticism of him, but guys like the
Senator who shoots his mouth off, nobody else did. He might have for some reason in
administration wanted to have affirmation to get out, but he leaped out, isn't that what
they say? What it was, it was a bad deal for us and them. He was later, can't remember
the gentlemen's name, but he was lot's older than I am, and I'm old enough. He just was
told to do it - I think that's what happened. But he would never say that, he says, "Do it as
a [?].” I know so much about it – this is going to happen – he would never have been
fool enough to do that. So I think that's what it was, the way it was. They didn't want all
of a sudden this thing to fall on them like a ton of bricks. You know what I mean? That's
the way it was, exactly.
FB:
Once you had completed the recruitment process, what was the next thing that was asked
of you? What was the next thing that you did?
SA:
To be frank I got in one of these airplanes that land on water, Pan American [?]. I got on
one - incidentally, I had a card I could fly anywhere I wanted. I went to Hawaii. Gave
myself another ten days’ vacation [?] "I'm gonna do it, nobody else can ever - I'm could
stay there a month if I wanted to. But I did see a lot of my classmates out there, in the air
force. They were concerned, they knew that the Japanese were getting - and I did too. I
said, "Jesus, you'd better watch 'em because…" I didn't predict that Pearl Harbor, but
that's what happened. I stayed there and this friend of mine took me all over the island,
which is a good thing. Then I got back on the Pan American Clipper - that's what it was they take off and land on water. You've seen them I'm sure. I flew all the way in the Hong
Kong area.
1
�FB:
At this time of the organization, were there ships going over to take them over? Did you
get involved in that at all?
SA:
I had nothing to do with that. CAMCO, which is the Central American Manufacturing
Co., run by the Pawley brothers, there were two or three of them and they did a good job
of doing what they were supposed to do. Chennault never got along with them very well.
I got along with them a lot better than Chennault did. Pawley, Gene Pawley was a good
friend of mine. I was walking down the street in Times Square and bumped into him and
he said, "Let's have a drink." We were that way and I used his office which was up there
in the RCA building - I think it was about the 70th floor, it was way up there I can tell
you that. I'd never do all the paperwork for him, I'd send it in to this and that and so and
so and so.
FB:
Once you had completed the recruitment process, what was your next duty? What else
did you do for the AVG?
SA:
I got to Rangoon which was the place where we started. Above Rangoon about 120 miles
was a little British airport that the British weren't using. We got permission to use it as a
training center, which we did. What else do you want to know about it?
FB:
What was the next responsibility? You'd finished with the recruitment part, now what did
you do for the AVG? What was the next step?
SA:
The next thing? Just about what I told you, except for the time before. Chennault and I
were just like this. I didn't have to ask him a damn thing, I just went on and did it, and so
forth and so on. Only upsetting thing about the whole process as far as I was concerned
was, I got malaria. Now malaria over there is a killing process. It was a good thing we
had a couple of nurses, two females and another male, a doctor and everything else and
they were using the finest things in the world on me. I was 104 temperature. They put me
on a slab, bald naked and ice all over me. These nurses all got very familiar with me.
They didn't really think much of me because I'd [?] One morning, while I was there, still
in the hospital, Chennault came by - he usually came by in the morning to tell me what
was going on [?] I said, "What's new this morning?" He says, "Nothing much. The Japs
have bombed Pearl Harbor. They're next door to us and they could be here in another
twenty minutes." I said, "Nurse, bring my pants." That's exactly what I said. So, I got
2
�the hell out of there and he said, "I want you go on up, when you get the chance -after
you get through - send these people and all these spare parts, motors and everything else
we've got to go. I didn't go with the experts. I had a little guy that was a supply clerk, and
I says, "Listen, you have a responsibility. You've got ten trucks, new trucks, and millions
of dollars’ worth of things. You know who's going to be responsible for it, who's running
that thing? You! That usually set him up and they did it, like I did a lot of things. So
that's the way it was. We've got to give them credit for moving more material in the
fastest time than anybody else - it had been routine army joke that it "had taken forever",
but they didn't do it that way. He just said, "You, that's your job and you're not taking off
tomorrow, you're taking off today."
FB:
That leads me to another question. What would you say were the differences between the
way the military did things and the way the AVG did things?
SA:
A big difference - based on the same thing, but I would say we had more freedom, we
could do it if we wanted to. We didn't have to go right down the line and do everything
one, two, three and so forth. We could use our own discretion and do things like that. The
army could never do that. They'd take a month to get ready, and we'd be already up there.
Did that get through you?
FB:
Part of the energy process - sometimes we have to ask you - but the part that you talked
about when you had malaria, and you were laid out and Chennault came in to tell you
about Pearl Harbor? Could we have you repeat that again? If you could start with the
fact that you got down with malaria and they had to lay you out on the ice and then
Chennault came in as he usually did and then …?
SA:
While I was in the hospital, we had a good medical staff of our own. I'd had nothing to do
with hiring them, Chennault did most of that. There was a doctor and nurses and they
were very good. They kept me alive because that type of malaria they had over in Burma,
that was a killer. Our doctors had as good a knowledge of it as anybody, better than most.
I didn't have no trouble out there. I got out, and that's it. After sending a few more people
up, we had a little transport [?] by ten people, two engine airplane, I'd flow in one a lot of
times. We just moved on up to Chunking with that. These pilots had been trained down
there in this place, and they had done a pretty good job of doing it. They had to land on
real short runways, some of them were busted up. But in general, they were pretty good.
We saw three organizations, squadrons, many [?].
3
�FB:
Could we get back to …?
SA:
He never was kicked out, he [?] or nothing, he didn't get that way, he wasn't that kind of a
guy. He said, "How are you feeling"? I said, "I'm feeling better, I'd better get out of
here." He said, "I hope so, I want you to go on up to Kunming because the Japanese have
done just what I said - bombed Pearl Harbor." And what's the name of that little kingdom
- the Japanese could go anywhere they wanted to go - they were there. And that's about it.
I got out and never had any recurrence of that thing, malaria.
FB:
How long did you stay in Burma? You went almost immediately to Kunming, didn't
you?
SA:
I don't know how long, but it wasn't a short period of time, it was a matter of a month or
so.
FB:
So you were there during the training period?
SA:
Yeah, that's right. It doesn't sound like much, but that's exactly what it was. Do you know
what "supplies" meant? Everything! They couldn't move without it - can't do anything.
So, I hated the darn thing. I told him "I don't know a damn thing about supplies, and you
know it." It doesn't take that kind of a thing, it takes someone with a few brains to do it,
to take advantage of opportunities, and go ahead and do it with limited facilities." Got it?
FB:
Could you tell us a little bit more about what the supply situation was like. What kind of
problems did you run into? What did you have to do?
SA:
The guy, as I told you, was a tough man. He walked into the room and you wanted to
walk out the other side, because he had a body odor that'd kill you. But he was the best I
had. You couldn't tell him to go back to the United States and send over somebody else
like that. So, you've got to go. I had about three or four others, we had clerks who had
probably more experience in supplies that I had, but I couldn't have gotten to where I was
in the air force without knowing a lot about supplies. Does that answer your question?
FB:
What we're looking for is - as if we know nothing about this. I know the supply situation
was very difficult, that you were running out of supplies, it was a constant problem.
4
�SA:
We didn't have any corner drug-store or anything like that.
FB:
This is what we need on camera. We need to know what kind of problems you ran into
and what the supplies situation was like.
SA:
I'd pick a telephone and I'd call Rangoon - I'm way up there about 120 miles away, and I
say, "Send down a box, we just lost another pilot," or something like that. I had to do
things like that all the time. I'd use the telephone, and who would I call? CAMCO. A lot
of people don't know anything about CAMCO, but they were pretty important.
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v03
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 3 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair discusses hearing the news of Pearl Harbor while being treated for malaria, in addition to the supply situation during the training period in Kunming.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6d59698cb93f6a01e27ebcb6e3e32e7.mp4
744bdee38daafbf216237eae1a1dad47
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/84b13ce4f8f02d0e9e5a25f29187f9e9.pdf
cb76b13ce4185f1598c7b9f97e784a22
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 4]
FB:
Can you give us an idea of what it took to get equipment, and to get it to the crews?
SA:
I'm going to say that that was something that CAMCO did - airplanes, spare parts, they
would do it. All that stuff was arriving in Rangoon, and one of the brothers - I've
forgotten whether it was Gene - but we would receive these crates, a shipment. I'd open
them up and - they were P-40 airplanes - we'd put them together the way it has to be
done. In case you don't know, a crate comes in, it's not an airplane, they put it all together
and a lot of people spend a lot of time working on it. Once it gets together, then they call
somebody - maybe me - and say, "We've two or three more planes ready", so we'd send
down some pilots and they'd fly them back, just like that. That was supply. We weren't in
the business of buying things, but you've probably heard of a guy named Joe Alsop. He
came out there and got in the organization, and we were getting to be friends. We would
send him on [?] and one time when he was - some guns and some small side arms you
might call them. He went all the way to the Philippines and bought a bunch of them and
came back. Another trip he was out there getting something like that for us, is when the
Japanese folded up Hong Kong, and so what he had to do was claim he was a pilot at the
embassy, not a part of AVG, his life wouldn't have been worth a nickel if he was that
way. You understand that? Well, that happened. Joe Alsop was later friends later on after
the war in Tex Hill, and I used to go up to that place and have dinner. He'd apologize
because he didn't have so much money, but all these people would bring him delicious
fish and stuff like that, and he'd say, "I apologize for the fish," but it was real good stuff.
That's the way Joe Alsop was.
1
�FB:
It was once stated that you and Chennault had a conversation in which they said he'd
never last 15 days - that the AVG would never last 15 days without parts. Do you
remember that conversation?
SA:
Uh, Uh. But it could be very true. I'm not part of that, but anybody that knew anything
about military, knows damn well that supply is - without it, you're dead. Even though I
thought, "To hell with it," I didn't want the damn job, but it seems it hounded me later on.
[?] said, "That's the only job I've got open, supply". I said, I don't know a damn thing
about it but I'll take it. That's about the way you learn.
FB:
We need you to give us your personal opinion, your personal observations about some of
the people that were in the AVG. We have a pretty good idea about the pilots, the
mechanics, but none of them knew the staff. You're the only one we've been able to talk
to that actually had real contact with the staff. So I'll just ask you a few questions about
people, and if you could just comment on those people. Chennault had an interpreter the
whole time he was out there named P.Y. Shu. Did you ever have any contact with him or
do you have any …?
SA:
I just freewheeled, just as I … I'm 82 years, I don't remember things like I used to, hells
bells! But these Chinese were indispensable, as interpreters and otherwise. I'll tell you
one thing, these Chinese people - I don't know how to put it but they'd do the best they
can with what they've got, but you can't stack them up against Americans who were
educated, and that's the truth, no way. I had lots of things that astound me. I'm just like
you or anybody else. You know what? This Tiananmen Square, where all the massacres
of students took place? I don't know whether it took place or not but that's beside the
point. In China, you can't come out and say offhand that somebody's bad, somebody's
good - you can't do it.
FB:
Let's talk about some of the people on the staff.
SA:
Williams - that's a good one to start with. Williams was a [?] officer, and I had problems
with him. One time, we moved out from Kunming? up to Chung King, and as much as
we may dislike it, we had no niggers in this outfit, that's one thing, and another thing what the hell did I start to talk about?
FB:
Williams.
2
�SA:
He was a radio man, he was very important to us because he set up this bunch of radio
stations and early warning things - it was very [?] but we had to have it. You couldn't sit
on the ground and wait for them to [?] you had to know they were coming - did it by
airplane communications. We did it that way. We didn't take anything from him, he was
never an officer. Our system was based on what the navy had. We had different bars,
different dining rooms. You might say, how can you be so snooty. Chennault set it up
that way originally and I had to carry it out, and I didn't like it that way but I did it. For
example, we moved up to Kunming and I sent Williams ahead to prepare, to do certain
things before I came up and the rest of it. I got up there and I got so goddam mad, I went
and blew my top. He had set everything all together, strewn everything out the window,
and that wasn't the way we operated. His mentality and the way he went - he said he
couldn't see anything different about it, but goddam it, I could and everybody else could I gave him hell and immediately changed it myself, but he called me a "son of a bitch"
and everything else. I didn't give a damn. He goofed and he didn't ask anybody for
information, he'd just go ahead and do it that way. Now Williams, I like, he's older than I
am, but that doesn't mean he was in the AVG so long. I don't know where the hell he was
before that but all I know is, he's older. And the one reason I know he's older, one day I
was talking about someone - how old I was - and he say, "I'm older than you," I says,
"You are?" It surprised me, but he was. But Williams was a tremendous person. It just so
happened he never was an officer, and we had so damn many good'uns - crew chiefs and
[?] personnel - no use laboring the point, but in this case - I could have gone along with
it, with the same damn thing, you see. But it was absolutely - didn't jibe at all with what
we'd set up.
FB:
How about Harvey Greenlaw?
SA:
He was a no-no. I don't know why Chennault ever brought him over there but he was an
old friend of his. He hadn't been in the army or anything else as far as I know, but he was
supposed to know China, but he didn't know much. He had a wife who didn't know much
either, so I heard.
FB:
Can you comment any further about his duties or what she was supposed to be doing?
SA:
He didn't do much of anything. They got credit for that [?] but he wasn't.
3
�FB:
How about Boatner Carney?
SA:
He left for the [?] Another thing, Chennault always told me, if you want to get rid of
somebody, you do it. Well, I had to, I said to him "That's a tough job but one of the things
I have to do." [?]
FB:
Can you comment on that - on reasons why some of the AVG were fired, or any in
particular that you remember?
SA:
I was having lunch with some friends of mine - I don't want to say friends, maybe
officers - a Chinese waitress came up and said, "Somebody at the door wants to speak to
Mr. so-and-so. Mr. so-and-so was one of our pilots, a good pilot, but he'd had an
operation, a double hernia, so we'd taken him off until he'd gotten over that and
somebody - I didn't do it, but I guess somebody had sent him to inspect the barracks, so
to speak and look for drugs and things like that. He went round and he must have upset
somebody but they came - two of them - big s.o.b.'s - big boys - and this pilot went back
to the door to find out what they wanted, and they started pounding on him right and left,
and boy, you're talking about somebody getting mad. I let them both have it! Right and
left! I let them know I was there. I didn't knock them out but they were so goddarned [?]
that I couldn't do a damn thing else. My reputation was made! They went, "Christ, that
Skip can really do it"! But I'm not the kind of a guy that can sit aside and watch
somebody be slaughtered. Are you? What else?
FB:
You were talking in the kitchen about the incident in which Boyington, Pappy Boyington.
SA:
Pappy! Chennault hired him, he can't blame that on me, I didn't hire him, but Chennault
did. It was a mistake and he'd admit it. I like whiskey, but I'm not a drunk, [?] but this
guy did. He was a good pilot but, hell, who wants a good pilot, someone who's drunk and
going to taxi around and crack up some of the airplanes. That's what he did, one after
another, that's a bad damn thing. He'd do that and he'd ignore it. He was supposed to be
such a hotshot - I don't know how many he shot down, if any, I don't know. I'd like to
repeat it, I don't care who knows it, when Madam Chiang Kai Shek was on my arm - I
was escorting her and showing her what a fine set-up the Chinese had provided, the
Chinese had always provided these things, we didn't do it. Things like hotels and food
and whatnot, [?] going through and there was this Boyington, goddam! I had no idea he
was there or I wouldn't have took her in there, but he staggered up to - drunk himself and
4
�that's what - he had done, he had busted into the van, the liquor van and which is safer
than ??? Nobody thought he would do a thing like that. I told Chennault, I said, "Listen,
you probably know what happened, but this is what happened, I'd bash the hell out of - I
don't see why the hell we need a guy like that around." And he said, "Skip, get rid of
him." Even though he hired him. So I called him in, I says, "Boyington, you're such a
nice boy, really nice, I like you, but things the way they are, we're just going to have to
let you go". I let him down as easy as I could, that's the truth. He left and he went and got
to Hollywood and started making films and whatnot. In my opinion, he was a no-no.
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v04
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 4 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair describes the supply situation for the AVG and his personal observations of some of his fellow members including Harvey Greenlaw, Boatner Carney, and Pappy Boyington.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8417780cf02f38072ab639b010d03d98.mp4
07149302a0ac09c3838759e4b53399e3
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/36de568561fef919c189c128ea19a7ed.pdf
2b800fbf4c463a8a6ca22d3a99b6b0bb
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 5]
FB:
In the kitchen, you had talked about that incident where you were escorting Madam
Chiang Kai Shek and then Boyington was in the - you sort of set it up in the beginning
fine, and you told the ending fine, what we need to edit it in, is what you said … you
hurried her past? We need a little more detail on that?
SA:
There was a table with a sort of [?] on it. This guy was sitting at a table but when he saw
us enter the room he realized that he was in the presence of somebody important - she
was certainly important, she was chief of the air force. So I just maneuvered her away
from that and I didn't stop or make a comment. She probably knew exactly what was
going on, just as I did. But things like that are upsetting. When the President of the
United States should come down and give the one squadron outfit like we had in S.
Carolina a party or something like that and you don't even bother to go? What kind of a
guy are you?
FB:
Let's talk about somebody that you liked a lot more. Give us your impressions from your
personal perspective, your impressions of Claire Chennault.
SA:
He was a maverick. He had infinite skill as a fighter, he knew exactly - he was perfect
with the Chinese, and that was one of the smart things they did, to get him out there.
That's true. I had numerous occasions to know him. As I told you, I went down to [?] way
ahead of home, and he had nine children down there, and that's enough for a baseball
team. He didn't ask me down there just because he liked me, a lot of people that way, he
just probably wanted to tell me something, I don't know. I'm not just saying, but
afterwards, after the AVG, he would come right here - he would send me a telegram
saying, "I want to stop here for a few minutes, come out and see me again." We did, and
1
�left when this was going through. Another time, I was in a pretty good position and
General Haynes had been good enough to give me a job on his staff, and we had a house
on ??, a beautiful house, and all that stuff, and Chennault came through one day, and
came in and he said, "Skip, I'm going to be here - I'd like to see you." Once the General
said I could use his table to eat on. And I said, "That’s something else, something more
important than that. General, some people back in New York have been badgering me
over and over again, saying that I should get Chennault to come to this celebration and
whatnot, so he could be the fall guy and I had this worked out - and I told Chennault, and
[?] on my part because he wouldn't like it. I said to him everybody's going to be there,
what are you going to have, everybody's going to be there, the mayor and - and a lot of
AVG people are going to be there so we want you to show up and they'll get up and say
the usual bad things about you and funny things too, and he'd just take it with a grin and
let it go at that. And that's what happens. What's the name of that governor - the mayor of
New York, Italian gentleman, everybody know him …………and then we got a baseball
guy from - one of the [?] club. He said, "Get get a good game on this afternoon, I'll get
everybody in that wants to", and [?] said, "The only problem is getting there and I'll have
all the motorcycle policeman and escorts and everything else, and I was sitting next to
General Haynes, in the same car with him, we were going out to the - we were going so
fast and screaming, you'd think that we'd be killed ten times, it would go through
everything [?]. We all got there, but I said to Haynes, "I've never been through a god
dammed thing like this before, in China or any place else, because it scared the hell out of
me.”
FB:
SA:
Let's go to China again with Chennault, what was your impression of Chennault during
the AVG period of time, what was your own personal observation?
He was my boss, he was the best boss I've ever had. He was a guy who knew airplanes
and I had a tremendous respect for him and I don't think there's anything I can say that in my opinion he was one of the finest people I've ever known.
FB:
If he was in the room when you walked into a room and Chennault was there, what did
you see?
SA:
When I walked in the room - what room?
FB:
Any time when you walked into a room - if I was there, what would I see?
2
�SA:
I don't know exactly what you mean by that?
FB:
Just in terms of his look. How did his looks strike you? Some people talk about his
piercing black eyes, or his leather face. What was your impression? When you looked at
Chennault, what did you see?
SA:
He was an individual and it was a hard thing for him to get anywhere in the military
because as I said before, I always thought of him as a maverick. So many generals get to
be generals by smoothing in this and that situation but I don't think he had an idea of
going back to the United States and becoming a general. He got to be a general because
Madam Chiang Kai Shek put the heat on with [?]. The regular people out there, Stilwell
and his group were telling a lot of people that they don't understand this AVG, Flying
Tigers and stuff, didn't understand that at all. One of them called me, waked me up in the
middle of the night, one of the colonels, waked me up and got me out of bed. He said,
"Have you got an airplane you can send down to rescue General so-and-so." I said, "I
don't have one but there's one here. I'll tell him that you want it done and if he does, that's
fine, but I can't order him, because he's an American, not an air pilot and I'm reserve
officer and out of it." So that's the way it happened. And you know what? This guy got
to the airplane down there and landed at dawn and General Stilwell decided, that no, he
was going to walk out. He was going to walk out, that we could take the nurses he had
and put them on an airplane, but he was going to walk out. That saved his neck I think.
He walked out. There were a lot of things like that.
FB:
Did you ever meet Stilwell?
SA:
Yeah, I just told you. Not only that but Madam Sun Ya Tsen invited him and his aide and
me and her secretary to play bridge, not once but twice. I had respect for him as a general
and all that be had was not my idea of Chennault. Now Chennault and Stilwell would get
together and say, period. Stilwell - Chennault, the guys in the trenches are going to win
this war. Chennault - there ain't no damn trenches. That's about the way they got along.
That's the truth I think.
FB:
How about Stilwell's aide, Bissell?
SA:
Bissell was just the opposite of what I said. He was an over the line military man.
Nobody liked him, not particularly me. He was the kind of a guy that didn't give a damn
3
�about anybody. He would say, "I guess we've got to adhere to the line and do exactly
what the army says. He couldn't really last for a minute the way we could. So why in the
hell would he have to call me, a guy that wasn't even in the army, middle of the night, to
bail out Stilwell from his own goddam stupidity? I don't know. I think Mrs. Stilwell must
be gone too. I don't think any of my friends are still alive, not many of them. Some of
those pictures you showed me - but they're younger. I took one of them - this is a good
story. I think one of them came from Las Vegas and I met him in the lobby at one of
those conventions we had, and I said, "I understand you've been raising horses. Come up
to the room and have a drink of scotch or something, I've got some good stuff up there."
He said, "Okay, we'll do that." He gets up there and he says, "Skip, when I first saw you,
I thought you were as old as hell. Now I don't think so any more." Now things are
different, he wasn't a kid any more either.
FB:
We really need to get better understanding - for the documentary …
SA:
You might say it was nil. When I started to do something when Chennault wasn't there, I
did it - that was a staff meeting. Did I call everybody together and say, "Can I do this?"
No. We didn't have staff meetings as the army and air force has them. Didn't do it, or
anything. So we used the word "staff" - I've got a book here somewhere that lists all the
names over everybody, what they did. But it's the best book that's ever been written.
There have been a hundred or so of them written. Half of them are spurious.
FB:
In terms of Chennault, he had a very bad case of bronchitis, give us an idea of he would
get sick, who would take over and how did he communicate with the pilots?
SA:
I don't think he was eve to that point. He had this throat condition but it didn't amount to
anything. He never said anything about who was going to take over if he died - I don't
know, I suppose I'll have to.
4
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v05
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 5 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair discusses his impressions of General Chennault as a maverick and admirable boss, in addition to General Stilwell and General Bissell.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/635f460a791a12ac6ec75a73a9a74913.mp4
17925ae6d9930a4882ed50ecb4b5691e
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/533f0d56e8890057a8ac3f95722706bb.pdf
1644e4a6671822c7d2040d95568cecd0
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 6]
FB:
I'd like to ask you about the bombing of Kunming and the AVG on the 20th of December
fought against the Japanese and was successful, and actually the Japanese never even
came back again. What was your reaction and what were you doing while that battle was
going on?
SA:
There wasn't any big deal about what I was going to do. It was a difficult thing to pick
out these Japanese as they came in. Although we were getting information on the radio
they were so-and-so and at such and such a time. Also our pilots in the air found them took advantage of it and knocked down a few. We had some other places too, small
places, it wasn't just Kunming - down the road - I know I was down there one time, my
teeth were bothering me and - you'd never believe it - we had a dentist, Milt Wilton. He
said, "You've got an impacted wisdom tooth. I can do it but it's not going to be pleasant
because I don't have the proper elevators - you know what that is?" I said, "Go ahead and
do it." While that was going on, the Japanese were swarming in from nowhere and we
had guys like Tex Hill - as a matter of fact, it was Tex Hill and his outfit were there, and
they had a battle pretty much, all over the damn place they were. I went out to see these
Japanese airplanes that had come down - Tex Hill had shot them down - and Tex Hill
jumped out of his airplane and walked over there to him, kicked the corpse - I think it
was a corpse "Hey, you son of a bitch." He did something he didn't like, anyway, he
didn't feel sorry for the guy one bit. That's what you've got to do, I think. I've never shot
one down though.
FB:
I guess what I was looking for in the question, Skip, was - before December 20th, the
AVG had never encountered the Japanese. They had been training but had never
encountered the Japanese. Kunming had been bombed without - as you said before, there
1
�was no defense, so when they actually shot down those airplanes, what was the reaction
from you, from Chennault?
SA:
That was tremendous, you can't describe it. The Chinese all were - something from
heaven - they just couldn't - it was just one after another - these AVG people are just
tremendous. We had a Governor out there in that province - did I ever tell you about him?
Long Yuen. He put on a party for us out there [?] and all that stuff and wines of all kinds,
and I had to get up and respond and do this and that - I hated it that stuff, but I still had to
do it. But it was a beautiful place. The Chinese - I don't want to get into anything about
what I think of them and all that, but the governors had unlimited power. You can't say
"Chiang Kai Shek" - but each local governor - they're the ones that are - and of course,
they all pretty much think Chiang Kai Shek is one too, but you can't on that. They never
liked him at all.
FB:
What was your reaction and Chennault's reaction to the success? Because Chennault's
name in a sense was on the line. He'd been training these guys - what was the reaction
you had and what was the reaction that Chennault had to the success over Kunming?
SA:
I don't know about success - as you say, I can't recall any of us jumping up and down like
some people seem to do. We expected it. You go to all the trouble and get the airplanes
and get the equipment and get the best mechanics and the best pilots, you got to expect
some good things, and it happened. Of course, we were glad. One guy - you probably
never heard of Neale? You don't know? Neale was one of the squadron commanders.
He's alive now - he lives up off Oregon, one of those islands up the west coast up there.
Chennault made him his air commander, as he called him, because he'd shot down about
18 or 20 planes himself, tremendous. I sat next to his wife and talked to him - I never
thought he liked me, I don't know why. I never did anything overtly or anything else, but
I guess he just didn't express himself too much, he kept quiet.. Incidentally, can I say one
more - we had loads of newspaper writers and whatnot come in there, and they would ask
one question after another. "How can you tell which is the fighter and which is the ace
and which is not?" And I said, "The best way is going and look in the bar and they've got
the smallest little guy you could see, and the quietest guy, he's the [?], and that's about the
way it was. Don't listen to his bad mouth. Am I on camera or am I not? I am.
2
�FB:
What would you say the Chinese role was in the defense of Kunming? The Tigers were
fighting in the air. What would you say the Chinese role was in the defense of Kunming?
Did they have ground [?] over there?
SA:
Their role was very important. Just because we had the pilots - every airplane had a
bunch of Chinese - if you looked at the airplanes, there was always one American maybe
- they had three or four others - but they were tremendous.
FB:
What was your relationship - this is during the AVG period - how did you work with the
Chinese? Were they involved in the supply at all? Were they involved with ……?
SA:
No, I don't think we did a damn thing with the Chinese. [?] They did a marvelous job, the
Chinese, of supply us - a place to stay, the finest quarters, we took over places that had
been in the past, probably, schools, houses and whatnot. We had otherwise - we had been
dodging it really but [?] one thing that bugged me about our own people - they didn't
realize how good this damn service they were getting was - it was nothing like as good as
they were getting back home, that kind of stuff, you know. Hells bells, I think it was
damn good. How do I know it? Because I had lived in China before and we were damn
lucky to have any kind of thing. The only way I looked at it, was - to build it myself or
have it built, pay for it, and get a beautiful woman out there to man it!
FB:
When did you first hear that the AVG was going to be incorporated into the army air
corps?
SA:
It was pretty obvious that. I think I heard it some time, I wouldn't know exactly when but
that was - no way we could make a [?] which we did on July 4th. These men could go
home if they wanted to go home or they could stay in the army. I was one of the few who
stayed, as a major. I went back to the United States, to the Pentagon and some friends got
me a job, and that's about the way it was.
FB:
Skip, what was your reaction to the military now about to come in and take over the
AVG? What was your personal reaction?
SA:
The communists?
3
�FB:
No, the American military was about to take over the AVG, what was your personal
reaction?
SA:
It was just one of the things that was going to happen. You don't have to worry about it,
whether it was going to happen or not. This was a long plan and we had a long time to
figure out - they had an apartment of four or five military officers who had [?] and
anybody who wanted to stay in the army could stay and they would consider what they
were - so a lot of them stayed in. You know what I mean by that? Everybody knew it
was going to happen, and it did happen.
FB:
What would you say the morale was like amongst the AVG during this period of time?
SA:
The AVG in general were stupid to always say that the army was a terrible place. They
didn't like the idea of getting back in the army, that kind of stuff, on the other hand, they
didn't like the way - a lot of the things we did in the AVG.
FB:
Do you think that Bissell's speech had something to do with that? Were you present?
SA:
Some people say so - that's the kind of speech I'd expect from him.
FB:
Were you present at the Bissell speech?
SA:
I don't think so.
FB:
…observation at that time. Why do you think most of the AVG did not rejoin with the
army air corps?
SA:
I don't know. I think a lot of them had been in before - a lot of them were navy people
and navy people said, "Why in hell should I join the army", - something like that. Tex
Hill, for instance, was a navy man, but he came back in. He got a job as a general.
FB:
What was your personal decision? What were you going to do after July 4th? What did
you decide to do?
SA:
I decided to stay for a while, which wasn't too long, when I went back.
4
�FB:
The AVG was promised passage back home in their original contract. They were
supposed to be brought to China and returned back to the United States. What was your
observation of what really happened?
SA:
Some of them they did send back, some of them they didn't. Some of these people, I
didn't know much about, but they just went out for the ride. As soon as they got out there,
they wanted to turn back, and they said, "We ain't gonna pay their way back, hell no.
Somebody we fire, we'll see that they get transportation and we'll pay for it." That's the
way it was.
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v06
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 6 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair describes the reaction to the AVG's first combat with the Japanese pilots after the bombing in Kunming, in addition to the final days of the AVG and the arrival of the American military.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
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video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eda1ec9bdf158decc3dfcd101f505953.mp4
111855ad61c8ca873b1a610fbbead85d
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/158a68fc1ecd0921ee2f0ce92abb4dfe.pdf
b8ea7738c91093c363c82fda4785d90b
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 7]
FB:
……volunteered to stay on for the two weeks had difficulty getting back to the States,
can you tell us anything about…?
SA:
I don't know anything about that, I don't know. We had no control over the - going into
the air force - most of the got away.
FB:
What did you think the AVG accomplished in that one year? What would you say, from
your own personal observation?
SA:
I think it's a proven fact that they are not just a simple bunch of people together, but they
are really unspeakable in the way they accomplished what they did, and I would say they
were entirely 100% successful all the way through, and I'm proud of being connected
with it. I consider it the best thing that ever happened to me, to be in that organization.
Does that answer you?
FB:
My next question is, what do you personally feel you accomplished during that year, and
what effect did it have on your life?
SA:
I don't think I accomplished much. I might have accomplished a few things but I don't - I
can't have missed much. For instance, some friends of mine gave me a job inspecting the
problem and I was immediately one of the people to send out all over the United States in
a short period of time, say one month, it was terrific. You'd think I was God, because I'd
go from one place to another and write a report on the combat people and that, over and
over. I didn't like that business of being an inspector, but I had to. Then I got out and with General Haynes and Mitchell Steele? And it was a bomber command, that's what it
1
�was. I was just happy to be - that was a happy thing, I guess. We had this house - we had
to lease it. We bought it in '40.
FB:
Somewhere inside there, is all those friends of yours that I showed you pictures of [?] 5th
anniversary, so instead of talking to me, I'd like you to talk to them. Because we will
show this - I need you to look right into the camera - get yourself comfortable and look
right into the camera.
SA:
Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm extremely sorry that I'm unable to be with you on this
historic occasion, the 50th anniversary of the AVG, but I would like to say, being a part
of this organization is something in my life - I'm proud of it, and always will be. There's
one thing I would like all of you to know, that I have done the best I could, and I wish
that my learned friends would tell me that I was right to go ahead with it. I also would
like you to know that I think Dick Rossi has done a tremendous amount of good for the
AVG and nobody forced him to do it. I have read a lot of books, met a lot of people, but I
have nothing to be ashamed of, anything that I've done. The one thing that I do and hope
that you will understand is my tremendous admiration for Chennault while he lived and
everything. I also have some friends, best friends I've ever had - still are my friends, and
one of them was good enough to say after writing a book, "Skip, I never heard anybody
say an unkind word to you." I don't believe that. You can't take on a job like I had
without making enemies, and I just want to say, "Hullo and goodbye to all of you."
FB:
That was beautiful. I want to ask one more question over again, and I realize that perhaps
it's a difficult question to answer, but if you could try. We're doing these interviews with
each person to get - what do you personally feel you accomplished in the AVG, and how
did that affect the rest of your life?
SA:
I don't know that it affected the rest of my life, I don't know that. It's a question that's
difficult to say - but I'll say this, and I mean every word of this. I have never made more
than $10,000 in my life. I attended a party recently with a tycoon and at home, and he
said, "That old so-and-so never made more than $10,000 in his life," and I said, "You're
talking to one right now." Well, I don't still make that much, but I can't complain about
my luck at all. I've got everything I want. I've got three children, put them all through
college. They've all done much better than I ever did. My wife has been extremely
important to me. She's had many, many friends in the upper echelons. I don't know of
2
�anything I can say except I appreciate you fellows coming by here to do this. I hope it
hasn't been a bust. Goodbye.
FB:
I know it’s somewhat difficult to talk about yourself, but if you hadn’t gone around and
recruited those people – there would be no AVG. And I guess, what we’re looking for…
SA:
They probably could’ve gotten somebody else… I don’t know…
FB:
Skip, we’ve heard what the guys have said about YOU! You haven’t heard that and I’ll
tell you something – you’re pretty high up on the ladder in terms of people that they
respect. And I know it’s kind of difficult, but this is for the record. There’s gotta be a
certain amount of pride in what you did.
SA:
I have…
FB:
Please tell us about it.
SA:
Well, I have a tremendous amount of pride… I've said repeatedly, I think it was the most
important thing I've ever done in my life, and I have done, on the other hand, some very
significant things. I'm very much impressed - I don't anybody, that I know who has three
children who have grown up and been so successful and I even have two great
grandchildren, and what kind of life do you think I've done? Do you think I've been
busted all the way? No. I don't think so either, and I'm just proud of everything I've got
now. There's one little thing. This little house cost us $7,500. Now it's a hundred and
some - way up there. They come by every goddam year and say, "That son of a bitch is
worth more than that, let's raise his taxes up. He's so and so." Well, I bought it to live in,
not trade off and make money out of. But that's what they're doing. They just keep on. I
don't know what the hell's going to happen in death. If they keep on raising the damn
taxes - I paid $20 a year for taxes when I bought it, now - thousands. That's just the house
tax.
3
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Skip_1991-06-06_v07
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Claude Bryant "Skip"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Skip Adair interview (video and transcript, 7 of 7), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Claude Bryant "Skip" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Skip Adair trained as a pilot and was recruited by Col. Claire Lee Chennault in 1938 to serve as an instructor for the Chinese Air Force. During the months leading to the formation of the AVG, he toured Army Air Corps bases recruiting pilots and ground personnel in secrecy for the AVG. As part of the AVG Headquarters Staff, Adair acted as the Operations and Supply Group Executive Officer. In this tape, Adair discusses the major accomplishments of the AVG during their historic year and the tremendous pride he has for being a part of the Flying Tigers.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng