Sam Kleiner

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THE FLYING TIGERS back story of the American volunteer pilot unit that flew in China in the early days of World War II.

How the unit was made famous by their shark-faced P-40s and the John Wayne movie of the same name.

How he obtained and used handwritten WWII love letters to trace the story of the Flying Tigers.

Working with Flying Tigers families to track down letters, diaries and photographs from the unit’s exploits in China and Burma.

Meeting the last surviving Flying Tiger, Frank Losonsky, who took him to see one of the P-40s at a museum in Georgia.

Attending the private meetings of the family member group -- Flying Tigers Association and learning the history of those families after their veterans returned from WWII.

Tracing the minute-by-minute accounts of the battles he found in combat reports left in the basement of an unremarkable building in Washington D.C.

Though the Flying Tigers’ shark-nosed P-40s remain one of the memorable images of America at war, the authentic story of the Flying Tigers had never been told before. It’s a story of young Americans who came from all walks of life and from all over the country but banded together for a common purpose and went on to become the first Americans to strike back against the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. It’s a story of how the Roosevelt administration was secretly sending over planes and men to help China even before Pearl Harbor.