Return of the Flying Tigers (Buck Danny)
Encyclopedia
Return of the Flying Tigers is the ninth story arc in the Franco-Belgian comic book series Buck Danny
, published by Jean-Michel Charlier
and Victor Hubinon
.
, of which Danny is the current CAG, is abruptly ordered to Manila
harbour in the South China Sea
. There, the admiral and Danny are informed that the CIA has been tracing an alarming increase in arms sales (including modern warplanes) to the region, which inexplicably are not meant for any of local governments. Washington fears that an aggression is imminent, and dispatched the Saratoga for this eventuality.
The carrier's planes are put on alert the same night in an attempt to intercept illicit flights in the region; while on duty, they identify, but then lose, a suspicious cargo plane flying towards Southeast Asia. The next day, Danny takes a Phantom jet and investigates some of the islands where the cargo might have landed; he is shot at above one of them and loses contact with the Saratoga. When Tumbler and Tuckson investigate, they discover an entire squadron of unidentified jets fleeing the area, with Danny nowhere in sight.
A search and rescue is immediately organized, but new orders from Washington interrupt it after only two days. The Saratoga has been ordered to proceed with all due haste to the Southeast Asian nation of Vien Tan, where a revolution has just begun, supported by the same jets and heavy armament that CIA has been tracing. Despite this, the admiral allows Tumb and Sonny one last search of the area; they finally locate Danny and bring him back on board, where the admiral informs him that his general's stars may be at the end of the upcoming adventure.
s and pilots to the Vientanese, who will fight under the flag of the defunct Flying Tigers
. (Unknown to the admiral, one of the thirty pilots, Dave Stimson, has a family in Vien Tan living in rebel-occupied country).
The new Flying Tigers land at their airbase and find themselves beset by problems. On the one hand, the rebels are well trained, well led and well informed, while on the other, the Americans are severely hindered by the incompetence of the Vientanese staff officers they serve under. To make matters worse, they eventually discover that the mercenary pilots they face are being led by an old enemy; Lady X, whom they thought to have killed a few years earlier. Danny sets the Tigers' primary goal as locating and destroying the enemy fighter base.
Meanwhile, Stimson, quietly helped by Sonny and a local peasant, Thi Ba, tries to send a message to his family in the north; instead, Thi Ba is captured by the rebels, who instantly understand the uses they can make of him. With the information he reveals to them, they locate Stimson's wife and force her to write a letter meant to draw her husband into a trap. Despite his wariness, Sonny Tuckson agrees to fly into the north with Stimson and try to save his family; instead, they are captured and imprisoned by the rebels.
With tempers running high, many of the pilots call for an out and out frontal assault; but Danny, wary of another trap, organizes his own recon into enemy territory with the help of Vientanese royal soldiers. The latter manage to get in touch with the prisoners, and learn among other things of Thi Ba's treason, which they report to headquarters. With this new information, Danny puts together another rescue plan, this one in cooperation with the Vientanese soldiers rather than Thi Ba and his associates.
The operation goes off without a hitch until the very end; one of the two rescue helicopters is disabled on takeoff, and the remaining one is too small to accommodate everyone. Sonny Tuckson remains with Souva, the Vientanese commander, and they make their way back to base on foot. This proves harder than anticipated, and becomes doubly so for Sonny when Souva is killed by a landmine. After being lost in the jungle for a week, he miraculously stumbles upon Lady X's airbase, a heavily protected airstrip in the middle of a mountain range.
After nightfall, he steals one of the rebel jets and flies it back to the Flying Tiger base. Having finally located their enemies' base, the Tigers take off as soon as possible; approaching through a narrow and undefended canyon identified earlier on by Sonny, they catch the rebels unawares and destroy the entire airbase with napalm
bombs. Without its aerial support, the rebellion collapses quickly; the novel concludes after the war's end with Sonny being decorated for bravery by the Vientanese king.
novels. The Indochina War and its repercussions, including U.S. involvement in the region, had also been banned from French popular literature; thus Charlier was forced to draft a strictly fictional story, with no basis in international reality. The imaginary nation of Vien Tan stands in for Vietnam
; the war between the communists and the Diem
regime was replaced by a palace quarrel between a king and his rebellious nephew; and the villains' backers, rather than the Soviet Union
, were made to be an unnamed and therefore apolitical criminal organization (the same role fulfilled by SPECTRE
in the Bond movies of the same era).
The Flying Tigers' part in the story, however, was another matter; it was largely inspired by General Claire Lee Chennault
's very real activities after 1945. At the end of World War Two, the General purchased several surplus military aircraft to create the Civil Air Transport
(later Air America), an officially private company which in fact worked for the CIA and with other Western and allied governments throughout the Chinese Civil War
, Korean War, First Indochina War
, and Vietnam War
. According to Charlier, Chennault also planned to form a combat unit, the International Volunteer Group, which would have contained volunteers of any nationality and lent its services to any government threatened by the spread of communism. It was on these groups, as well as the historic Flying Tigers
, that Buck's unofficial squadron was based. The story was also a nostalgic return to the comic book's beginnings, since Danny, Tumbler and Tuckson had originally met while serving in Chennault's command during the war.
Buck Danny
Buck Danny is a Franco-Belgian comics series about a military flying ace and his two sidekicks serving in the United States Navy or the United States Air Force. The series is noted for its realism both in the drawings and the descriptions of air force procedures as part of the storyline. In...
, published by Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier was a Belgian script writer best known as a writer of realistic European comics. He was a co-founder of the famed European comics magazine Pilote.-Biography:...
and Victor Hubinon
Victor Hubinon
Victor Hubinon was a Belgian comic-book artist, best known for the series Buck Danny and Redbeard.-Biography:...
.
Publication history
Like all of the Buck Danny stories, the "Return of the Flying Tigers" story arc was initially released in three separate albums; "Return of the Flying Tigers", "Flying Tigers to the Rescue", released in 1960, and "Flying Tigers versus Pirates", in 1961. During the nineties, the series was re-released and they were recombined into a single album, named after the first novel.Return of the Flying Tigers
The U.S.S. Saratoga carrier battle groupCarrier battle group
A carrier battle group consists of an aircraft carrier and its escorts, together composing the group. The first naval task forces built around carriers appeared just prior to and during World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy was the first to assemble a large number of carriers into a single...
, of which Danny is the current CAG, is abruptly ordered to Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
harbour in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
. There, the admiral and Danny are informed that the CIA has been tracing an alarming increase in arms sales (including modern warplanes) to the region, which inexplicably are not meant for any of local governments. Washington fears that an aggression is imminent, and dispatched the Saratoga for this eventuality.
The carrier's planes are put on alert the same night in an attempt to intercept illicit flights in the region; while on duty, they identify, but then lose, a suspicious cargo plane flying towards Southeast Asia. The next day, Danny takes a Phantom jet and investigates some of the islands where the cargo might have landed; he is shot at above one of them and loses contact with the Saratoga. When Tumbler and Tuckson investigate, they discover an entire squadron of unidentified jets fleeing the area, with Danny nowhere in sight.
A search and rescue is immediately organized, but new orders from Washington interrupt it after only two days. The Saratoga has been ordered to proceed with all due haste to the Southeast Asian nation of Vien Tan, where a revolution has just begun, supported by the same jets and heavy armament that CIA has been tracing. Despite this, the admiral allows Tumb and Sonny one last search of the area; they finally locate Danny and bring him back on board, where the admiral informs him that his general's stars may be at the end of the upcoming adventure.
Flying Tigers to the Rescue
The novel opens with the admiral briefing his pilots on the situation. A criminal cartel has orchestrated a revolution against the U.S.-allied king of Vien Tan, in order to control the vital resources in his country's soil. Since the U.S. cannot intervene officially, they have agreed to lend thirty A-4 SkyhawkA-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...
s and pilots to the Vientanese, who will fight under the flag of the defunct Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
. (Unknown to the admiral, one of the thirty pilots, Dave Stimson, has a family in Vien Tan living in rebel-occupied country).
The new Flying Tigers land at their airbase and find themselves beset by problems. On the one hand, the rebels are well trained, well led and well informed, while on the other, the Americans are severely hindered by the incompetence of the Vientanese staff officers they serve under. To make matters worse, they eventually discover that the mercenary pilots they face are being led by an old enemy; Lady X, whom they thought to have killed a few years earlier. Danny sets the Tigers' primary goal as locating and destroying the enemy fighter base.
Meanwhile, Stimson, quietly helped by Sonny and a local peasant, Thi Ba, tries to send a message to his family in the north; instead, Thi Ba is captured by the rebels, who instantly understand the uses they can make of him. With the information he reveals to them, they locate Stimson's wife and force her to write a letter meant to draw her husband into a trap. Despite his wariness, Sonny Tuckson agrees to fly into the north with Stimson and try to save his family; instead, they are captured and imprisoned by the rebels.
Flying Tigers versus Pirates
After her partial success in the previous novel, Lady X now plans to finish the war by crushing the Flying Tigers in one blow. On the one hand, she has the rebel propaganda broadcasts announce the capture and upcoming execution of Tuckson and Stimson; on the other, using Thi Ba, she lets false information trickle to Danny in the hopes of drawing out the entire squadron and destroying it.With tempers running high, many of the pilots call for an out and out frontal assault; but Danny, wary of another trap, organizes his own recon into enemy territory with the help of Vientanese royal soldiers. The latter manage to get in touch with the prisoners, and learn among other things of Thi Ba's treason, which they report to headquarters. With this new information, Danny puts together another rescue plan, this one in cooperation with the Vientanese soldiers rather than Thi Ba and his associates.
The operation goes off without a hitch until the very end; one of the two rescue helicopters is disabled on takeoff, and the remaining one is too small to accommodate everyone. Sonny Tuckson remains with Souva, the Vientanese commander, and they make their way back to base on foot. This proves harder than anticipated, and becomes doubly so for Sonny when Souva is killed by a landmine. After being lost in the jungle for a week, he miraculously stumbles upon Lady X's airbase, a heavily protected airstrip in the middle of a mountain range.
After nightfall, he steals one of the rebel jets and flies it back to the Flying Tiger base. Having finally located their enemies' base, the Tigers take off as soon as possible; approaching through a narrow and undefended canyon identified earlier on by Sonny, they catch the rebels unawares and destroy the entire airbase with napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
bombs. Without its aerial support, the rebellion collapses quickly; the novel concludes after the war's end with Sonny being decorated for bravery by the Vientanese king.
Behind the scenes
This story arc was heavily influenced by media censorship in France, "Buck Danny"'s biggest market, which had already resulted in the banning of the two Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
novels. The Indochina War and its repercussions, including U.S. involvement in the region, had also been banned from French popular literature; thus Charlier was forced to draft a strictly fictional story, with no basis in international reality. The imaginary nation of Vien Tan stands in for Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
; the war between the communists and the Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
regime was replaced by a palace quarrel between a king and his rebellious nephew; and the villains' backers, rather than the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, were made to be an unnamed and therefore apolitical criminal organization (the same role fulfilled by SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
in the Bond movies of the same era).
The Flying Tigers' part in the story, however, was another matter; it was largely inspired by General Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault
Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault , was an American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment...
's very real activities after 1945. At the end of World War Two, the General purchased several surplus military aircraft to create the Civil Air Transport
Civil Air Transport
Civil Air Transport was a Chinese airline, later owned by the CIA, that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia...
(later Air America), an officially private company which in fact worked for the CIA and with other Western and allied governments throughout the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, Korean War, First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
, and Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. According to Charlier, Chennault also planned to form a combat unit, the International Volunteer Group, which would have contained volunteers of any nationality and lent its services to any government threatened by the spread of communism. It was on these groups, as well as the historic Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
, that Buck's unofficial squadron was based. The story was also a nostalgic return to the comic book's beginnings, since Danny, Tumbler and Tuckson had originally met while serving in Chennault's command during the war.
Characters
- Buck Danny: the series' lead character; Commander, Air Group on U.S.S. Saratoga, and briefly transferred to commander of the unofficial Flying Tigers unit in Vien Tan.
- Jerry "Tumb" Tumbler: Danny's second in command, who helps deal with both Danny and the pilots' frustration from the stress of their mission.
- Sonny Tuckson: Danny and Tumbler's best friend. In this novel, he distinguishes himself by his courage several times, especially his willingness to help Stimson save his family, and his actions in finding and attacking the enemy airbase.
- Slim Holden: an ace but a hotheaded and often impulsive pilot, whom the trio has worked with in several previous novels.
- Dave Stimson: a pilot on the Saratoga, whose father-in-law, wife and infant son live on a plantation in Vien Tan and have been MIA since the revolution began. He signs up with the Flying Tigers in the hopes of locating and helping them.
- Lady X: Danny's nemesis, whom he has already faced twice in previous novels. She is hired to assemble and lead a squadron of pilots to serve as the rebels' air force.
- Prince Prahabang: the nephew of the Vientanese king, Lady X's employer, and a puppet for a criminal organization seeking to control Vien Tan's resources.
- Nuoc Raheng: the King of Vien Tan. A longstanding U.S. ally, he appears at the end when decorating Sonny Tuckson for valor.
- Lin Phu Doc: a Vientanese general assigned as the Flying Tigers' direct superior. Incompetent and cowardly, his instructions nearly cause the destruction of the entire squadron in one engagement; Danny responds by giving him a black eye, after which he more or less fades from the story.
- Captain Souva: a brave and resourceful officer in the Royal Vientannese Army, he risks his life to save Sonny from a rebel jail, then to help him back to allied territory; he is killed during the latter part of the mission.
- Thi Ba: a Vientanese peasent originally hired by Stimson to help find his family. Prahabang and Lady X identify, then "turn" him and use him to supply the Americans with bad information until they discover his betrayal.
Aircraft featured in this novel
- A-4 SkyhawkA-4 SkyhawkThe Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...
- F-4 Phantom IIF-4 Phantom IIThe McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
- F-8 CrusaderF-8 CrusaderThe Vought F-8 Crusader was a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft built by Vought for the United States Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, replacing the Vought F7U Cutlass...
- F9F PantherF9F Panther|-Popular culture:The Panther played a prominent role in the 1954 movie Men of the Fighting Lady . The F9F was featured in the flying sequences in the 1954 movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri, although in the 1953 James A...
- Sikorsky H-34
- Fiat G.91