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In 1937, before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, The Chinese Government recruited retired U.S. Army Air Corps officer Chennault as aviation advisor, commissioned as Air Force Colonel, charged with supervising the development of Chinese Air Force and training of pilots. In 1940, Chennault was ordered to create American Volunteer Group comprised of American pilots.
Chennault recruited 100 pilots from the US military and was ready to defense China against Japanese. With the help of President Roosevelt, Chennault purchased 100 Hawk-81A2 (P-40B/C diverted from Royal Air Force order), and began training in Burma in August of 1941.
Although control and climb performance of P-40 is not so good, excellent dive speed and great structural strength is superior to the Japanese fighters. Thus, AVG used to exploit so-called "boom-and-zoom" tactics in combat with Japanese Army's Ki-27 s and Ki-43' s, and advised against prolonged dog fighting. The AVG's kill ratio was superior to Japanese in almost all their engagements.

Along with The United States entry into World War II, The AVG was replaced by 23rd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Forces. The AVG was disbanded on 4th July 1942. Some AVG pilots and ground crews accepted commissions in China remained with the unit to carry on combat mission against Japanese.

1937年中日戰爭即將爆發之前，中國政府延攬了由美軍退伍飛官陳納德上尉，授予空軍上校的身份擔任顧問，協助發展中國空軍及訓練飛行員。1940年國民政府軍事委員會責成陳納德成立一支由美籍飛行員組成之美國志願航空隊。
隨即陳納德赴美國招募到約一百名現役或退役飛行員準備至中國作戰，在得到美國羅斯福總統的支持之下，得到了一百架原本要交付英國Hawk-81A2（P-40B/C戰鬥機的外銷型）。
由於P-40在操控與爬升性能的表現上並不突出，但在裝甲防護與高速俯衝性能上要優於它的日本對手。因此志願航空隊發展出「一擊脫離」的戰術與日本陸軍的九七戰及一式戰交手，而避免與日機纏鬥，從而在日後的戰鬥中得到了較高的作戰交換比。隨著美國捲入第二次世界大戰，志願軍的階段任務告終。
飛虎隊於1942年7月4日正式解散，部分飛行員與地勤人員繼續留在中國，以美軍的身份繼續參與對日作戰。