Edward Rector; Fighter Ace With ‘Flying Tigers’

Edward Rector, a World War II fighter ace and original member of the legendary Flying Tigers unit in China, has died. He was 84. Rector died April 26 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington after a heart attack.

A retired Air Force colonel, Rector was credited with downing 10 1/2 Japanese aircraft in combat. Pilots were given a half credit when two pilots played a role in downing an enemy.

The Flying Tigers unit, headed by Brig. Gen. Claire L. Chennault, was credited with destroying 296 Japanese aircraft over seven months in 1941 and 1942.

No more than 20 of the original Flying Tigers are believed to be alive.

Rector, a native of Marshall, N.C., graduated from Catawba College in 1938 and began his military career as a naval aviator.

He was a carrier pilot in Norfolk, Va., when he was recruited for the American Volunteer Group, the official name for the Flying Tigers. The unit was formed with the financial backing of the Chinese government to help defend Chinese cities from Japanese attack before the United States entered World War II.

“When I heard about the AVG, I saw an opportunity to find out if I was as good as I thought,” Rector said in an interview in the February issue of Military History magazine.

“I also had read twice over everything that Rudyard Kipling had written, so this was right up my alley. And to be paid a fabulous salary and a bounty for each plane destroyed sounded heaven-sent. I jumped at the chance.”

After the war, Rector served with the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in China. After the communist takeover in 1949, he helped Taiwan build its air force.

Rector is survived by a sister and two brothers.