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CHINESE TIGER

[[image - black & white photograph of Wang Shuming]]

AMERICAN officers on duty in the Far East describe him as a "Chinese Irishman," and the characterization fits him to a "T."  He's stocky and bull-necked.  His chin and jaw are firm and strong, and his dark eyes can bore through you like gimlets.  His infectious smile and warm personality make you feel he is an old and trusted friend only minutes after the first meeting, but (according to these same Americans) when the going gets rough he wades in with two-fisted aggressiveness in the best Hibernian tradition.  His enemies hate him like the plague, and his men idolize him.

Who is this dynamic person whose feats are almost legendary in the Orient?  Formally and officially he bears the name and title of Gen. Wang (pronounced Wong) Shu-ming, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, but to millions of admirers of a dozen or more nationalities he is known affectionately just as "Tiger" Wang.

This appellation, too, was hung on him by Americans. Years ago, when he was a young bomber pilot, he was given the nickname by members of the American Volunteer Group, known more familiarly as the Flying Tigers, which had been formed by Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault, retired US Air Corps officer, to assist the Chinese. Wang himself is a veteran of 233 bombing missions.

Ironically, much of Gen Wang's early military aviation training came from the Russians, whose ideology he hates with a purple passion.  Between September, 1925, and November, 1929, he attended and was graduated from Soviet pilot, fighter-gunnery, and reconnaissance courses.

Under Wang's leadership the Chinese Nationalist Air Force has become the largest and best-trained of any free nation in the Far East.  The average Chinese jet fighter pilot has nearly 700 hours of flight time, which is higher than the USAF average, and the flying safety record of the Chinese also is higher than the standard in the US.

Training of Chinese pilots is long and intense.  Ground, primary and advanced training in conventional piston engine aircraft is a two-year regimen.  After graduation from this course the Chinese pilot enters even more rigorous gunnery and jet transition training.

Quality in both men and machines is more important to "Tiger" Wang than size of his air force.

"Of course, we hope to have a bigger air force, but just size is not as important as quality," he said through his aide-interpreter.  Wang considers the F-84's and F-86's with which the Chinese now are equipped "very fine aircraft, but becoming obsolete."

In frequent aerial skirmishes with Chinese Communists the advantage of the superior training of Nationalist pilots comes to the fore.  Despite the obsolescence of the 84's and 86's, the score against the Russian-built MIGS is very much in favor of the Nationalists.

Wang is convinced the Communist buildup on the China mainland is aimed not at Taiwan alone, but at all of free Asia.

The Commies, he points out, are building air bases from northern Manchuria to the most southern boundary of China - evidence of an intent eventually to "attack against the whole of the Far East."

But when and if that day comes, "Tiger" Wang and his boys will be ready with guns primed. [[image - drawing of a flying Pegasus]]

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tary forces. When the Philippines were granted their independence in 1946, the US signed 99-year year leases for the bases in question.

There is, however, a difference of opinion concerning sovereignty of the bases.  As a result, there is a strong demand for revision of the 1946 base agreement to permit Filipinos more unrestricted access to US bases, despite the requirements of security, and for the application of Philippine tax laws to US facilities and personnel.

US bases in the Philippines occupy a vital role in the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) defense network.  There are several military installations, the best known of which are the USAF's Clark Air Base and the Navy's Subic Bay installation.  Not yet too well-known is the Navy's new Naval Air Station at Cubi Point, Bataan, about 50 miles northwest of Manila.  In building Cubi Point, an entire mountain was literally pushed into the sea to create an 8,000-foot runway.  The Cubi Point construction is described as the "biggest earth-moving project since the Panama Canal."

Clark AFB is headquarters of the 13th Air Force, command of which recently passed from Brig. Gen. William L. "Jerry" Lee to Maj. Gen. John B. Ackerman, former vice director of the National Security agency in Washington.  Gen. Lee, hardbitten "father of the Philippine Air Force," whose accomplishments also include teaching President Eisenhower to fly, has been placed in command of the 2230th Technical Training Wing at Amarillo, Texas.

Also at Clark are based the Air Materiel Command servicing the South Pacific, the 26th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, the 31st Air Rescue Squadron, a detachment of the 49th Fighter-Bomber Group, a Military Air Transport Service unit handling about 75,000 passengers a year, the 6200 Air Base Group and a variety of other base service organizations.  Clark also is the biggest military communications center in the South Pacific.

Gen. Lee has served two tours of duty in the Philippines.  He was first assigned to the Philippines in 1935 and and as a member of the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur was responsible for the organization and training of the first Philippine Air Force.  It was during that period when he became well acquainted with Eisenhower, who was then MacArthur's chief of staff.

Lee left the Philippines in 1938, but returned to Clark in 1952. [[image - Pegasus]]

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