Stephen Bonner, an ace US fighter pilot and one of the last surviving members of the swashbuckling “Flying Tigers” who fought the Japanese for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during World War II, has died, friends and colleagues announced on Thursday.
He was 103.
The Flying Tigers, an assembly of US volunteer fighter pilots forming the Aviation Volunteer Group based in Kunming, China, operated out of what was then Burma in the early 1940s in support of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) against the Japanese, conducting dangerous missions over Japanese-occupied China and shooting down hundreds of enemy bombers.
They initially operated as mercenaries with the tacit support of the US government, given Washington’s official neutrality toward imperial Japan before the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in late 1941.
Serving under US Army lieutenant general Claire Chennault — who led the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force during the war before the KMT’s retreat to Taiwan in the Chinese Civil War — in 1943 and 1944, Bonner flew “five confirmed and five probable aerial victories, and additionally was credited with damaging two more fighters and bombers,” Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation chairman Jeff Green said.
“With his remarkable longevity, Steve would become the last living ‘Fighter Ace’ to have flown in China during the Second World War,” Green said, describing him as a “gallant soldier and a Christian gentleman.”
Later in life, Bonner became an advocate for the commemoration of the Flying Tigers’ legacy and US-China dialogue, founding the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation and receiving the Congressional Gold Medal.
He also visited China with fellow veterans in 2005, where they were named honorary citizens of Kunming.
Public Television Service produced a documentary series on the Flying Tigers, which operated in the Chinese-Burma-India region — known as the CBI Theater — during World War II.
“The Flying Tigers squadron forms a very important chapter in Taiwan’s wartime history, where the Republic of China and the US air forces worked together with outstanding camaraderie, spirit and cooperative fellowship,” then-ROC Air Force chief of staff Liu Shou-jen (劉守仁) said when the series was first aired in 2014.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS