New | Chinese 'Flying Tigers' pilot who served in second world war squadron falls critically ill

Hongkonger Long Qiming, one of the last surviving members of a China-based wartime air squadron called the Flying Tigers, is critically ill at a Chongqing hospital and is struggling to pay his medical bills.

Long, 91 – who flew transport aircraft and later bombers with the Tigers, a volunteer unit of the US military which aided China’s air force during the second world war – has been ill with a lung infection since early July, according to the Chongqing Daily.

The veteran receives more than 5,000 yuan (HK$6,300) a month as pension, but that is barely enough for his medical bills of 3,500 yuan a day, a friend of Long was quoted as saying.

Long is under serious risk of respiratory failure, septic shock and multiple organ failure, and is now under intensive treatment at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.

Strictly, the name Flying Tigers refers to the American Volunteer Group (AVG) pilots who helped China fight the Japanese and who were known for the shark faces painted on the nose of their jets – none of whom are still alive in China today.

But Xue Gang, a volunteer for a charity that helps veterans called the Shenzhen Longyue Charity Foundation, said the name is also used to encompass the fighters, freighters and bombers from China’s 14th Air Force’s Chinese-American Composite Wing, which was established in 1943.

By this definition, Long is among the last remaining Flying Tigers in China today, Xue said.