On October 21, 1939, as the Imperial Japanese "schnellbombing" campaign raged "terror on the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing", Chennault, accompanied by four Chinese officials, boarded the Pan American Airways Boeing B-314 "California Clipper " in Hong Kong, arriving at San Francisco on October 26, on a special mission for Chiang Kai-shek. By 1940, seeing that the Chinese Air Force in dire need because of obsolescent aircraft, ill-trained pilots and shortage of equipment, Chiang again sent Chennault, accompanied by Chinese Air Force General Pang-Tsu Mow, to the United States to meet with banker Dr. T. V. Soong in Washington, D.C., with the following goal: "to get as many fighter planes, bombers, and transports as possible, plus all the supplies needed to maintain them and the pilots to fly the aircraft." Together, they departed on October 15, 1940, from Chungking, China, transited at Hong Kong where they boarded Pan Am Boeing B-314 "American Clipper" on November 1, arriving at San Francisco on November 14. They reported to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih.