Lieutenant General Claire L. Chennault/Chennault Air Force Base Collection

1953-1999

 27.65 linear feet

Collection Number 10

Prepared by Patricia A. Threatt
March 2006

CITATION: The Lieutenant General Claire L. Chennault/Chennault Air Force Base Collection, Collection No. 10, Box
 number, Folder number, Archives and Special Collections Department, Frazar Memorial Library, McNeese  State University

Archives and Special Collections Department
Frazar Memorial Library
McNeese State University
 

Biographical Sketch (Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault)
 

Born in Texas in 1893, Claire Lee Chennault grew up in Louisiana, where his father was a cotton farmer. As a young man, he taught public school for a few years, but soon decided to become a pilot. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, Chennault began his military career in the Infantry Reserve. Chennault quickly transferred to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and was able to develop his passionate interest in “pursuit planes” (known today as fighter planes). After Chennault became a pilot, he later became a flying instructor.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Chennault served at various bases in the United States and Hawaii. Chennault became recognized as the leading expert on pursuit tactics and maneuvers. Chennault also became well known to the general public as the leader of a three-plane acrobatic team, Three Men on a Flying Trapeze.

In 1933, Chennault wrote The Role of Defensive Pursuit, a book that advocated using fighter plane escorts for bombers. In 1937, deafness brought on by years of flying in open cockpits forced Chennault to retire from active service. Even though the United States military did not follow his recommendations, other countries sought his expertise and leadership. During the 1930s, other countries copied the fighter formation tactics he had pioneered, and several nations sought his services as a consultant. China hired him in 1938 as their chief adviser on air force training and reorganization. Thus began an association and a bond of mutual affection between Chennault and China that spanned the next twenty years of his life.

When Chennault accepted his post in China, the Sino-Japanese War was raging. To supplement China’s Air Force, Chennault fought for and won approval from the U.S. government to hire American pilots to fly U.S.-built planes for China. His force was officially called the American Volunteer Group (AVG), but was better known as the Flying Tigers. The AVG consisted of approximately 87 high-quality pilots and ground crew members.

Earlier in 1942, the U.S. Army Air Force recalled Chennault to active duty and promoted him to brigadier general. The AVG joined the 23rd Fighter Squadron in July 1942, and Chennault became chief of Army Air Forces in China. Promoted once again in March 1943, he became commander of the 14th Air Force, which provided tactical support for the Chinese and U.S. ground forces under the command of Gen. Joseph Stilwell.

After World War II, in 1945, Chennault retired from the military. In 1946, he organized a civil airline to carry supplies into China’s interior, and it quickly became one of the largest air carriers anywhere. He steadfastly championed the cause of Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists led by Mao Tse-tung; and in 1949, when Mao took over China, Chennault left the mainland for Taiwan. Chennault died on July 27, 1958 of lung cancer. Ten days before his death, Congress promoted him to honorary lieutenant general.

Historical Sketch (Chennault Air Force Base)

In June 1941, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury leased a small parish-operated airport to the federal government to build the Lake Charles Army Flying School, an advanced flying school for single-engine fighter pilots. Shortly thereafter, the government decided to move the school to Victoria, Texas and re-designate the field “Lake Charles Army Air Field.” The Army used the field to train bomber crews for B-26’s beginning in June 1943. After World War II, the Army curtailed its operations and deactivated the base in October 1946.

The Army reactivated the Lake Charles Air Force Base in Spring of 1951 at the outset of the Cold War. The Lake Charles field became a base of the Strategic Air Command, the Air Force’s global bomber fleet, and home to the 44th and 68th Bombardment Wings (Medium) and the 806th Air Division and Combat Support Group. The 68th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Lake Charles on November 25, 1953. [More information about the 68th ARS can be found on their website: http://www.68thairrefuelingsquadron.com/].

Local military and civilian leaders wanted to rename the Lake Charles Air Force Base for Lt. Gen. Claire Chennault prior to his death on July 27, 1958, but the Air Force refused to name a base after a living person. The Air Force granted the request after Chennault’s death. At the dedication ceremony on November 14, 1958, Anna Chennault unveiled a large oil painting of her late husband.

In the 1960s, the Air Force began modernizing its fleet with guided missiles in place of bombers. In June 1960, the Air Force phased out the 44th Bombardment Wing and 806th Air Division and Combat Support. The 68th Bombardment Wing moved to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina on April 15, 1963, effectively closing Chennault Air Force Base. Today the former air base is home to an industrial air park, Sowela Community College, a golf course, and other governmental agency offices.

Scope and Content Note

The Collection consists of documents from several sources and on various aspects of the Air Base’s history. Box 1 and Box 2, folders 1-5 contain documents about the ceremony changing the name of Lake Charles Air Force Base to Chennault Air Force Base on November 14, 1958. Colonel William Pease collected the materials in Boxes 3, 4, and Box 5, folders 1-5. Pease’s widow donated the materials to this collection. Other materials include histories of the units stationed at the base, the auxiliary activities on the base, and modern histories written about the base.

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