Training and Tactics
	Chennault took personal control of the training operating for the pilots and can be given a great deal of credit for the success of the Flying Tigers. He used his own personal notebooks filled with information he had compiled from the previous four years of combat as the basis for his lectures. The standard program of training, which most pilots received, consisted of 72 hours of on-ground lectures and 60 hours of highly specialized flying instruction. Included in this training were lessons in geography and the surrounding area, history of the Sino-Japanese War, and the air raid warning system. They benefited greatly from the intensive study of translated Japanese flying and staff manuals, which had been previously captured.           The tactics used by the Flying Tigers were based on the good qualities of the P-40B, while trying to compensate for its downfalls compared to Japanese planes. Chennault used his own personal knowledge and experience with the Japanese to aid in devising tactics that would succeed against the Japanese. A main point of their success was the use of the air raid warning system set up by the Chinese to be informed of Japanese plane positions and the use of teams to take on the enemy planes in order to make up for their deficiencies in capabilities of the P-40B and in number of aircraft. The pilots of the Flying Tigers would use the faster diving speed of the P-40B to catch the Japanese planes off guard. They would fly at high altitude, above the Japanese planes, and then dive very quickly to engage the Japanese planes. The tactics of the Flying Tigers proved so successful that they were spread throughout the Army and Navy following their use in China.
					Crew readies a P-40 for a mission, from Nalty, 71.