General Claire Lee Chennault, founder of the "Flying Tigers" was a maverick and an old fighter pilot who served as an advisor and trainer in China against the Japanese in the late1930's. He correctly observed the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese Army and Naval aviation and devised ways of overcoming their superiority in aerial combat, while using US aircraft. He wrote a lengthy treatise on the subject, telling future US Pilots how to fight and triumph over the Japanese foe. He sent the information off to the US War Department, where it was filed away and largely forgotten.

My question is, what if Chennault's teachings were taken seriously and US P-40 Pilots were trained not to engage in dogfights with the Japanese, but instead to use the advantage of high altitude diving attacks, followed by low level, high-speed get-aways, before attempting to regain the altitude advantage?

I'm sure that we all know that the Flying Tigers racked up an unbelievable kill ratio in China against Japanese Army Oscars and the occasional Zero, but what would have happened had these teachings been extended to the entire US Army Air Corps? It might have had a significant effect on Pacific air operations during the early days of the war.