Three American veterans of the legendary "Flying Tigers" air squadron that helped China during World War II on Friday visited picturesque Dianchi Lake in southwest China's Yunnan Province, where the wreckage of a fighter plane is being salvaged.  

The Flying Tigers fighter crashed into the lake near Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, during a training flight in April 1942. The pilot, John Blackburn of Amarillo, Texas, was killed. His body was recovered, but the plane has remained in the lake for six decades.

Peter Wright, one of the veterans, had once worked with the pilot and he hoped to see the day when the plane would be lifted out of the water.

John Rossi, one of the Flying Tigers ace pilots, was excited to return to his old battleground. The 88-year-old wore a leather coat with the marks of the Flying Tigers specially for the trip. He was responsible for six and a half "kills". He could remember their troop was stationed near Wujiaba International Airport in the city of Kunming.

The three veterans recalled one major battle over Kunming in December 1941. The next day when they transferred to Kunming from Thailand, the city was bombarded by intruding Japanese planes and 12 Flying Tigers scrambled and shot down nine enemy aircraft, saving the city from more air raids.

At that time, local residents in Kunming were very grateful and friendly to the Flying Tigers and civilians would give them fruit and food in the streets, Peter Wright said.

The Flying Tigers were formed more than 60 years ago by General Claire Lee Chennault, prestigious commander of the US 14th Air Fleet, to transport arms and other materials, and to support China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945).

Many Tiger pilots laid down their lives during the war and local people have been trying hard for the past decades to search for their remains in China's southwestern mountainous regions.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2003)