Leslie and I had the privilege of hosting 2 visiting Chinese professors to a little bit of Americana Sunday afternoon, and what better way could there be but on a beautiful summer day take in the sights and sounds of an airshow.

With constant flying overhead, we wandered around looking at airplanes and I enjoyed showing them the Tiger Moth project in our EAA hangar. Our chapter recently acquired a new flight simulator for the Young Eagle program and both of them got some flying time in the simulator.

During the show we’d wander past a cargo plane from WW2 named the “China Doll” (a C-46) and I promised we’d go inside the plane before the show ended. However, we were almost ready to leave when I remembered the China Doll.

We were one of the last to enter the “flying museum” but John (the docent) explained how American volunteers flew this type of aircraft “over the hump” of the Himalayas from India to Burma to China in support of the Chinese against the Japanese invaders during WW2. The “blood chit” was worn on the flight jackets of the pilots in the event their plane went down and was a message to the Chinese people to help the Americans escape. If the Japanese soldiers caught any of the Chinese helping the Americans, the consequences were brutal. About 900 of those aircraft were lost.

I’d heard of the Flying Tigers but it was good to have that memory refreshed and was a new reminder of the ties that still connect the Chinese and Americans.