Kuomintang officials complained that the United States was obstructing China’s ability to fight. Soong Mayling told Johnson that it was “unneutral” for the United States to deprive China of flight instructors, considering that American planes made up 90 percent of China’s air force. By September 1937, Hull had softened. Americans could advise the Chinese, he determined, but they could not fight. Chennault flouted those rules, shooting down (he claimed) thirty-seven Japanese planes. *
