The first Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) was founded in the areas of Fontana and San Bernardino, California in 1948.From there, the club grew exponentially, becoming one of the largest in the world.The club has since earned a reputation in media and popular culture, thanks to a number of high-profile raids and warson its various national charters, and in no small part to Gimme Shelter, a 1970 documentary about a riot during a Rolling Stones concert.The Stones management allegedly paid the Hells Angels to provide security atthe concert and paid them in beer, which was a terrible idea. As a banner once read on the clubs website, when we do right, no one remembers; when we do wrong, no one forgets.What the motorcycle club never forgets is its own heritage. While mainstream media gave the club a creation myth involvingdrunken, misfit airmen who flew bomber missions in World War II and struggled to adapt to life after the war, the real story is much simpler.The fake story starts with a WWIIArmy Air Forces unitin Europe during WWII, the 303rd Bombardment Group. The 303rd was not a misfit group, as popularlorehas implied, but rather one of the highest performers in the entire air war.In its official history, the motorcycle club tells the story of theB-17 the 303rd namedHells Angels, and itscommander, thecapable (and not drunken) Capt. Irl E. Baldwin.Why' To make sure the world knows this aircrewwasnt a band of drunken misfits, but instead wereheroes of the war in Europe. The aircrew has nothing to do with the motorcycle club. The Angels just care that the memory of the crew isnt dragged through the mud. (They care too much, right' Thats always been a fault of the Hells Angels.)This B-17F, tail number 41-24577, was named Hells Angels after the Howard Hughes movie about World War I fighter pilots. The bomber would fly with several commanders and numerous crewmen over 15 monthsand was the first B-17 to complete 25 combat missions in Eighth Air Force.The 303rds story starts withnaming their B-17 Hells Angelsafter the 1930 movie by famed aviator Howard Hughes. The plane wasthe first 8th Air Force B-17 to complete 25 combat sorties in the European Theater. It even participated in one of the first strikes on Berlin 1944. Two of the planes crewmen would earn the Medal of Honor. Another four would ear the Distinguished Service Cross. Fifty years later, the entire 303rd would vote to change its name to the Hells Angels, with Might in Flight as its motto.That name is the only common thread between the bikers and the airmen of the 303rd.So where did the name Hells Angels really come from' The motorcycle clubsofficial history says it comes from aWorld War II veteran from the All-Volunteer Group (AVG), better known as the Flying Tigers. This Flying Tiger, named Arvid Olson, was a close friend of the founders of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club after the war, but never even tried to become a member.The Flying Tigers were an all-volunteer group of airmen and maintainers in service to the Chinese Air Force who fought the Japanese Imperial Air Forces in China, preparing for combat even before the US entered World War II. The units 3rd Pursuit Squadron, comprised entirely of Marine Corps aviators, called themselves the Hells Angels. They first saw combatagainst Japan days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over the life of the unit, the Flying Tigers would down almost 300 Japanese aircraft in combat between December 20, 1941 and July 4, 1942.The Hells Angels Motorcycle Clubs copyrighted Deaths Head logo (below, left) can even be traced back to two US Army Air Corps patches, from the 85thFighter Squadron (center) and the 552ndMedium Bomber Squadron (right).SEE ALSO:17 reasons why the M1 Abrams tank is still king of the battlefieldJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Ukrainian soldiers turned a tank cannon into the ultimate selfie stick
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