John Blackburn, Wing Man, Killed in April 1942 Crash

In the waning months of the Flying Tigers, wing man John Blackburn was killed on a training mission in his P-40. The airplane went into Lake Dian, near Kunming. Blackburn's body was recovered, but the airplane has sat for over sixty years.

The Flying Tigers were officially discharged on the Fourth of July, 1942, when regular Army Air Corps pilots and officers joined a small remnant of the original volunteer group, and officially took over.

The Curtiss P-40 is deeply buried in silt and mud, under about 15 feet of water. A group of salvors, of the China Expedition Association, figure it will take a month or six weeks to get the muck blown clear of the wreck. After that, the plane will be raised, as intact as possible, from the bottom.

Once the plane is exhumed, it will come to the USA for restoration (possibly to flying condition, reports said), and be sent back to Red China as a reminder of the US volunteers who served such a valiant role in protecting the Chinese people from the Japanese onslaught.

FMI: www.flyingtigersavg.com