LTJG Ron Crysler (ca. 1971)
It’s funny how some stories just come knocking at your door. Ron Crysler played an important role in the aftermath of the April 4, 1977 crash of Southern Airways Flight 242, a story I have written about extensively. After the accident, he drove the distraught wife of co-pilot Lyman W. Keele, Jr. to Kennestone Hospital, and then assisted in identifying her husband’s body. Three days later, he was one of the six pall-bearers at Keele’s funeral. After we met in 2013, he offered to help out in any way with my Southern 242 Oral History Project. I accepted, and one week later we met at his home outside of Atlanta, GA for an interview.
Crysler and Keele both served as Navy pilots during the Vietnam War. Later they joined Southern Airways, and both men served as reservists flying out of Dobbins AFB. While we were rummaging through boxes of old photographs in Crysler’s basement, looking for photos of Keele, I found a Curtiss-Wright Corporation newsletter from January 28, 1944 with an article about Ron’s father C. James Crysler, a WWII fighter pilot who hailed from Kenmore, New York. It told the tale of a young man who originally shipped out to China in early 1942 as a B-25 pilot but ended up flying 15 combat missions with the 1st American Volunteer Group, more widely known as the “Flying Tigers.”
Ron spoke proudly about his dad’s service during WWII, but said that despite the article in the newsletter, his time with the Flying Tigers had never been officially acknowledged. So I did a quick search of the pilot roster on the official “Flying Tiger Association” website and sure enough, his name did not appear on the final list.
I asked Ron if I could look at his father’s military records, and he agreed. After searching through a trunk full of old documents, I found his dad’s official Army “Separation Qualification Record,” which confirmed that he had flown 15 combat missions with the AVG in the month before the group disbanded in July of 1942. Somehow, his incredible story had been overlooked, and was now completely forgotten.
Capt. C. James Crysler in 1943
Briefly told, C. James Crysler earned his wings in March of 1942 from the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Luke Field in Phoenix, Arizona. Three months later, after completing his first bombing run over Burma, he and his crew were forced to bail out of their B-25 over the Burma/Chinese border while being pursued by the enemy. They hiked through the jungle for seven days, eventually making their way to Kunming, China, home base for the Flying Tigers. Lt. Crysler flew with the AVG from mid-June to early July of 1942. When they disbanded, he joined the 74th Fighter Squadron and flew an additional 68 combat missions throughout the China/Burma/India Theater, earning him a chestful of medals.
He passed on his passion for flying to his son Ron, who had his own distinguished career with the Navy. Ron graduated at the top of his class from Advanced Jets at Corpus Christi, TX, in 1969, flew 147 missions during the Vietnam War while stationed aboard the USS Oriskany, and then worked as a commercial airline pilot for 34 years before retiring. Ron helped Cathleen Keele after her husband died in 1977, and he assisted me in 2013 with my oral history project. The next two stories are my chance to return the favor and set the record straight about his father’s combat service with the legendary “Flying Tigers.”
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–The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk–
Between 1941 and 1944, the P-40 played a critical role with allied air forces in China, North Africa, and the South Pacific. It was both sturdy and well armed, and had a higher dive speed than any Japanese fighter during the early years of WWII.
Formation flying #1
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Formation flying #2
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Peeling off into a dive
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CONFESSIONS OF AN ORAL HISTORIAN 
Alas, you have it wrong. The AVG had no B-25 bombers. Rather, as part of the U.S. Army Air Forces replacement of the AVG, uniformed members of the USAAF were sent to China in small packets in the late spring of 1942. They included six B-25s that were to have flown from India to China “over the Hump” of the Himalayas, which would be the nucleus of a bomber squadron of the China Air Task Force of the 10th Air Force. Unfortunately, they were told to bomb Lashio, Burma, en route to China, with the result that only two planes actually managed to reach Kunming, the others having been shot down or crashed in the mountains when they ran out of gas. Lieutenant Crysler would have been one of the latter.
He presumably later became part of the 11th Bombardment Squadron, CATF, 10th Air Force. He was always a member of the USAAF, never a member of the AVG, which was essentially a mercenary outfit that ceased to exist on 4 July 1942, with five of its pilots choosing to join the 23rd Fighter Group of the CATF in China.
Mr. Ford–Thank you for your informative response.
As you point out in your comment, when Lt. Crysler arrived in Kunming in June of 1942, his B-25 bomber had been shot down. He ended up flying 15 combat missions in a P-40 with the 1st American Volunteer Group from mid-June through early July of 1942, just before they disbanded. He then joined the 74th Fighter Squadron and flew an additional 68 combat missions.
It was during this “transitional period” in June/July of 1942 that Lt. Crysler flew into battle with the AVG, although he wasn’t among the original pilots on the CAMCO payroll. As such, his name should be included in the Group War Diary of the AVG.