The Club’s Inception
‘Hell’s Angels’ was the name of a 1930s Howard Hughes film that depicted World War I fighter pilots. The term was also used in World War II when it was adopted by an American volunteer fighter squad in the Chinese Air Force. The All-Volunteer Group (AVG) was better known as “the Flying Tigers.”
Source: IMBD
The general consensus is that the group formed on March 17, 1948, in Fontana, California. A former member of the fighter squadron suggested the name Hells Angels. One of the Flying Tigers, named Arvid Olson, was a close friend of the founders of the biker club after the war. But Arvid never even tried to become a member.
According to the motorcycle club, after the war, all these young American men were seeking the companionship and brotherhood that they had with their brothers-in-arms during the war.