"I'm glad we won the war," John Rossi, the 90-year-old former Flying Tigers Ace pilot, said, "otherwise we would be speaking Japanese or German."

The American Volunteer Group (AVG) was organized by General Claire Lee Chennault in 1941, becoming the United States 14th Air Fleet following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Starting with less than 100 pilots and Tomahawk (P-40) fighters, the AVG shot down over 200 Japanese airplanes with a total loss of six pilots 14 aircraft.

"We were not fighting the Zeros," Rossi said, "our P-40 were better than the Japanese 97 fighters. We could run faster, far enough to turn around to come back and shoot them."

Though as flexible as the Japanese Zero, the P-40 can dive much faster, which enabled the pilots to go around to hit the Japanese fighters.

"Sure I was excited when shoot down the Japanese planes. I also felt I was lucky to get back," Rossi said, "I didn't get injured. Only one bullet slipped through the edge of my finger."

Rossi shot down 6.25 Japanese fighters, which made him an Ace.

"Sometimes several (of us) were shooting the same Japanese fighter.Who knows which one took it down, and we just shared the result," Rossi explained the decimal.

"We hoped there came more Japanese airplanes," Rossi said, "then we can shoot more down. But it never happened."

After the contract with the AVG expired, Rossi became a transport pilot flying the "Hump Route" in 1942 and kept a record of 750 flights.

In May 1942, Japanese troops overran Burma (Myanmar) bordering India, cutting off the last significant land routes that supplied the struggling armies in China.

China and the United States then decided to transport war supplies by flights and there gave birth to the Hump Route of 500 miles, involving the flying at an altitude between 4,500 and 5,500 meters over the Himalayas and the Hengduan Mountains.

"I thought the war would be over in six months," Rossi said, "if I knew it would last as it did, I would be going back to the navy."

However, the Hump Route is no easy job either. Without weather radar, unpredictable storms, hail and jet streams made it one of the most dangerous routes during WWII.

At that time, Rossi said, "there was a saying that goes you could follow the crashed airplanes across the Hump."

More than 500 planes crashed across the Hump, claiming over 1,500 Chinese and American pilots. The route was clearly seen from above as the aluminum trails for the wreckage of crashed planes glittering in the sunlight.

"I don't have time to think about fears," Rossi said, "I have to concentrate. I flew over 700 trips in China, it's hard to say which one was more dangerous than the other."

"Chinese people are very friendly. When we shot down the Japanese fighters on the first mission, people gathered around and brought us flowers, fruit and decorations. It's quite touching because they really didn't have much else."

Source: Xinhua