Editing Claire Lee Chennault (section)

==Early military career==
Chennault attended [[Louisiana State University]] between 1909 and 1910, having given his birth month as June in order to meet their requirement that enrolling students be aged 16 "at nearest birthday",{{sfn|Ford|2016|p=2}} and underwent [[ROTC]] training. He and his wife, Nell, moved to West Carroll Parish where he served as principal of Kilbourne School from 1913 to 1915.<ref>Allen, p. 64</ref> At the onset of World War I, he graduated from Officers' School at [[Fort Benjamin Harrison]] in Indiana, and was transferred to the Aviation Division of the [[Army Signal Corps#World War I|Army Signal Corps]]<ref>[http://lov.vac.gov.tw/OverSeas/eng/Content.aspx?Para=67&Control=1 "Claire Lee Chennault and the Flying Tigers"], vac.gov.tw; retrieved November 28, 2009.</ref> on November 27, 1917.<ref name=afhrastudy91pdf134>{{cite web |url=https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |title=Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917–1952, Volume 1 – A thru L |year=1953 |last=Fogerty |first=Robert P. |pages=354–356 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]] |id= USAF historical studies: no. 91 |access-date=November 9, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831192543/https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |archive-date=August 31, 2021}}</ref> He learned to fly in the [[Army Air Service]] during World War I. Following the war he graduated from pursuit pilot training at [[Ellington Airport (Texas)|Ellington Field, Texas]], on April 23, 1922, and remained in the service after it became the [[United States Army Air Corps|Air Corps]] in 1926.<ref name=Byrd_Chap3/> After graduating from the [[Air Corps Tactical School]] in 1931,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RjdMRT3ltRAC&pg=PA2122 |title=Official Army and Air Force Register |date=January 1, 1948 |volume=II |page=2122 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=October 18, 2024}}</ref> Chennault became Chief of the Pursuit Section at the Tactical School.<ref name=Byrd_Chap3>Byrd 1987, Chapter 3.</ref>

===Leadership===
[[File:Capt. C.L Chennault, leader of The Flying Trapeze poses in front of a Boeing P-12E.jpg|thumb|left|225px|Capt. C.L Chennault poses in front of a [[Boeing P-12]]E, 1934 as leader of "The Flying Trapeze".]]

Into the mid-1930s Chennault led and represented the 1st Pursuit Group of the [[Montgomery, Alabama]]-based Army Air Corps [[aerobatic team]] the "Three Musketeers".<ref>Owen 1985 {{page needed|date=July 2015}}</ref> The group performed at the 1928 National Air Races. In 1932, as a pursuit aviation instructor at [[Maxwell Field]], Chennault re-organized the team as "Three Men on the Flying Trapeze".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bergin|first=Bob|date=June 2010|title=Claire Lee Chennault and the Problem of Intelligence in China|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a523664.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001145405/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a523664.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=October 1, 2019|journal=Studies in Intelligence|volume=54| issue =  2|pages=2}}</ref>{{sfn|Ford|2016|p=5}}

===Resignation===
Poor health (deafness and chronic bronchitis), disputes with superiors, and the fact that he was passed over as unqualified for promotion led Chennault to resign from the military on April 30, 1937; he separated from the service at the rank of major. As a civilian, he was recruited to go to China and join a small group of American civilians training Chinese airmen.<ref>Byrd 1987, Chapter 6.</ref>