Greetings from the AVG by Roy Grinnell

December 25, 1941, the battle between the AVG P-40B's and Japanese fighters and bombers. Here is a quote from Flying Tiger R.T. Smith.

"On my last pass at the bombers, one of my wing guns was hit and fired all its ammo. Then I saw him - an Oscar coming straight at me head-on. We opened fire at about 400 yards. I could see the winking flashes from the muzzles of his guns. At our closing rate at about 600 mph, we only had a few seconds. I held my gunsight pipper directly on his prop hub and blasted away with all five guns. He took no evasive action and for a terrifying moment, I thought we were sure to collide. Then miraculously he passed below me, our prop tips missing by bare inches. I immediately felt the turbulent wake of his prop wash and whipped into as tight a turn as I could with out blacking out, certain he'd be on my tail. But, I was lucky. Off in the distance, he was rolling lazily into a shallow dive, going down like a flaming Roman candle."

Robert T. Smith scored two bombers on December 23, 1941. Then, on the 25th, he scored two bombers and one fighter, making him a Christmas Day Ace.