What happens
In 1937, Chinese reporter Wong and American observer Mr. Page watch from Hangchow as Japanese bombers approach. Chinese fighter pilots, including Chao Ting Fong, engage the bombers and shoot several down. The story then follows the growth of the Chinese Air Force, from its early training under American advisor Colonel John Jewett to fundraising campaigns for new planes. It traces the Japanese attacks on Chinese airfields and the later arrival of the Flying Tigers, ending with a narrated report from Colonel C. Y. Lee in Washington on the Allied air campaign. This is an episode of The Pacific Story, broadcast on January 21, 1945.
Hangchow and Chiang-hsi, China, 1937 onward; later Chungking, Kunming, Thunderbird Field in Arizona, and Washington, D.C.
Characters: Wong, Mr. Page, Chao Ting Fong, Colonel John Jewett, Juan, Lieutenant Warren, Major Chen, Captain Wong
Listen for: The air battle over Hangchow in 1937, when Chao Ting Fong and other Chinese fighters shoot down six Japanese bombers.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.