擔任飛虎隊飛行員的查理·邦德（由美國人杰夫·格林提供）

以下是英文全文：

Flying Tigers member passes away in US

By Thomas Kean

ONE of the last members of the Flying Tigers squadron that defended Myanmar from invading Japanese forces in World War II died on August 18, aged 94, an American newspaper reported last week.

Charles R Bond Jr, a retired US Air Force major general, died of dementia in Dallas, Texas, on August 18, according to an August 31 report in The Washington Post. Bond was one of about 400 pilots and ground personnel who served in the American Volunteer Group – nicknamed the Flying Tigers – under General Claire Chenault.

The group was tasked with protecting military supply routes between Myanmar and the Chinese government led by Chiang Kai-Shek, which was being supplied by the American government in its war against Japan.

“The group’s exploits became legend. Flying the P-40 aircraft, their fuselages painted with a toothsome tiger, the Flying Tigers were credited with shooting down 299 enemy planes and destroying 200 on the ground, even though the Japanese at times outnumbered Chenault’s group 15 to one. On one day in late February 1942, the Flying Tigers downed 28 Japanese planes while losing none,” the report said.

“During one of the 1942 engagements, General Bond destroyed three Japanese I-97 planes while piloting his P-40B. He was credited with nine kills in all.”

One of the reasons he eventually joined the Flying Tigers was the promise of US$500 for every Japanese plane he shot down, the report said, adding that he used the money earned as a flying ace to help his parents buy a house.

Bond was shot down twice while serving in Myanmar – on May 4, 1942, and again on June 12 of the same year. Later that year he returned to the US before serving as a commander in the Vietnam War. In 1984 he co-authored a book – A Flying Tiger’s Diary – that details his exploits in Myanmar and is described by one reviewer as “by far the best account currently in print from the point of view of one of the original Flying Tiger pilots”.