- After hearing that the Japanese had bombed both Pearl Harbor and CNAC’s home base of Hong Kong, Mac still flew his passengers to their destination.
- There he was told that Hong Kong could not be reached on radio and that he might be the only CNAC plane left.
- Mac was instructed NOT to go to Hong Kong.
- Mac took off anyway and arrived in Hong Kong at 1 am. CNAC personel were ok and 5 planes were not hit.
- 274 people were evacuated by CNAC before the Japanese overran Hong Kong. Mac’s plane was the first and last flight out of Hong Kong. His plane was rated for 22 people and his last flight carried over 70 people. The plane barely made it off runway with gunfire behind them.
- Within 2 weeks Mac and 2 other CNAC planes went to Toungoo, picked up 3 ground crews of Flying Tigers and flew them to Kunming. The AVG planes arrived the next day.
- The following day the Japanese attacked Kunming (as usual) but they had angry Americans waiting for them–only 1 Japanese plane made it back to its base.
- They never attacked Kunming by air again.
- So what is my OPINION of what was said between Mac and Chennault? I think Chennault explained that he needed Mac to get 3 planes to get them out of Burma or the Japanese would destroy the AVG before they even got started. We will never know for sure but I do know Mac remained his wingman for the rest of Chennnault’s life.
- To get the whole story, read my book! “The Shadow Tiger: Billy McDonald, Wingman to Chennault”
