BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES H. HOWARD - BOOK PHOTOGRAPH SIGNED - HFSID 157723

JAMES HOWARD. Book Photograph signed: "James H. Howard". B/w, 5¾x8¾ overall, image 4x5¾ (one surface). Captioned at lower margin: "A smiling Dick Turner meets a dour Howard after a long mission over fortress Europe." James H. Howard (1913-1995), called "China Howard" because he was born in China, had previously been one of the 70 pilots who flew missions with the "Flying Tigers", the American Volunteer Group (AVG) recruited and trained by General Claire Lee Chennault, from the summer of 1941 until July 1942, when the unit was absorbed into the Army Air Corps. The "Flying Tigers", who were paid $600 a month and $500 a kill, destroyed a total of 297 Japanese planes and dispelled the myth of Japanese air superiority. Howard later flew combat missions in Europe in his P-51B airplane, christened Ding Hao ("You are Number One"), the phrase with which the Chinese had hailed him each time he shot down invading Japanese planes. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (upon the recommendation of Jimmy Doolittle, Commander of the 8th Air Force) for attacking a squadron of German fighters and fighter bombers over Germany as they were about to attack American B-29s on January 11, 1944. Howard was the only American fighter pilot in the European Theater to receive the Medal of Honor in WWII. Howard, who rose to the rank of General, later detailed his exploits in Roar of the Tiger (1991). Fine condition.