Flying Tiger Ace: The story of Bill Reed, China’s Shining Mark

Bill Reed had it all - brains, looks, athleticism, courage and a talent for leadership. After experiencing triumph and tragedy while growing up in Depression-era Iowa, Reed resigned his US. Army Air Corps commission and travelled to China to fly for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) - the legendary Flying Tigers - at the start of the war. After returning home for a tour selling War Bonds, he went back to China and resumed the fight with another unusual unit, the Chinese-American Composite Wing (CACW), before losing his life in a desperate parachute jump late in the war. Reed’s obituary was front page news throughout the state of Iowa, and the story in one newspaper opened with a quote from 18th Century English writer Edward Young - ‘Death loves a shining mark’. Bill Reed also was an excellent writer who kept a diary for a time and churned out more than 200 letters to his mother over nine years from when he left home for college until a week before his death in December 1944. The book draws heavily on Reed’s own words, along with the author’s deep knowledge of the China air war and several years of research into Reed’s life, to tell his compelling story.