Big Pigeon - Pottawattamie County, Iowa
  • Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources Overview >
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
    • Resources - Free Sites
    • Resources - Pay Sites
    • Resources - WW II >
      • WW II Free Sites
      • WW II Pay Sites
      • WW II Personnel Lists
    • Resources - Print
    • Resources - Denmark >
      • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Pott. Co.
    • Early History >
      • Missouri River
      • Native Americans
      • Colonial Period
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Area Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • Pott. Co. Addendum
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Iowa History
      • American History
  • WW II Dead
    • The Roster >
      • Roster-AB
      • Roster-C
      • Roster-DEF
      • Roster-GHI
      • Roster-JKL
      • Roster-M
      • Roster-NO
      • Roster-PQR
      • Roster-S
      • Roster-TUV
      • Roster-WXYZ
    • Members' Homes >
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • Other States
    • Member's Deaths >
      • War with Japan
      • The Atlantic
      • Mediterranean Theater
      • European Theater
      • Stateside Deaths
      • Post-Service Deaths
    • Roster Usage
    • Roster Background
    • Roster Links
    • Roster Photos
    • Roster Outliers
  • World Wars
    • WW II Outlines
    • WW I >
      • Iowa In WW I
    • WW II Data
    • WW II - Links
    • WW II - At Home
    • WW II - Civilian Victims
    • WW II - Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
  • WW II - Japan
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Naval War with Japan
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Dutch Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • New Guinea & Solomons
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Solomon Islands
      • Solomons Sea War
      • New Guinea
      • Bismarck & Admiralty Is.
    • North & Central Pacific >
      • Alaska - North Pacific
      • Gilbert & Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Towards the Philippines
      • Pacific Communications Zone
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
      • SW Pacific Finale
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • Okinawa
    • China-Burma-India >
      • Flying the Hump
      • Burma - 1941-45
      • China - 1941-45
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Japan Vanquished
  • WW II - Germany
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • North Africa & Sicily >
        • Morocco & Algeria
        • Tunisia
        • Sicily
      • Italian Mainland >
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • To the Gustav Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • Cassino - the Gustav Line
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • The Po Valley
      • The MTO Sea War
      • The MTO Air War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • Normandy after D-Day
      • France Liberated >
        • Normandy Breakout
        • Northern France
        • Southern France
        • The Allies Stall
      • Arnhem & Antwerp >
        • Arnhem - Market Garden
        • Antwerp
      • Rhineland 1944
      • Lorraine & Alsace >
        • Lorraine Campaign
        • Alsace Campaign
      • Ardennes/Bulge Overview >
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
      • Rhineland 1945 >
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
        • North Rhineland 1945
        • Mid-Rhineland Feb 1945
        • Mid-Rhineland - Mar 1945
        • South Rhineland 1945
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Central Germany
      • The ETO Air War
      • The ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • Family
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
Picture
Picture
Flying the Hump
Flying the Hump
CBI Theater
 bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Japan > China-Burma-India > Flying the Hump, updated by RAC 7 Oct 2020

​
By the middle of 1942, Japanese expansion in Burma had cut off the Burma Road, the last overland supply line to China. 

​The United State's priority in the China-Burma-India Theater was to keep China involved in the War with Japan, thus tying up the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army in China, rather then in the Pacific Islands where most US combat occurred. To do this, the United States felt it imperative to open a supply line to China.
The Allies devised an alternative supply line, which included a long and dangerous airlife over the Hump, the popular name of a series of rugged mountains ranges in northern Burma and southwestern China.
  • By rail from the coast in the Calcutta area in Bengal, India to west of Ledo in northern Assam, India. (India and Burma were both British colonies at the time.)
  • By US aircraft from an airfield complex  west of Ledo, flying over northern Burma with most flights terminating at the railhead of Kumning in southwestern China.
WW II Supply Line to China
WW II Supply Line to China - 1942-45
In theory there was a preferable route over the Hump, the Low Hump Route from Calcutta to Kumning as shown on the accompanying low-resolution map. This route eliminated the need for long rail transportation and flew over lower mountains. However, it also flew over Japanese-occupied territory and thus was subject to air attack. Late in the war, as Japanese air power waned and the Japanese were pushed out of central Burma, it became feasible.

For most of its lifetime, the Hump airlift was operated by the United States Army Air Force Air Transport Command. Meanwhile, the 10th Air Force handled combat operations in India and Burma.
The Low Hump Route
The Low Hump Route
Note on the accompanying map:
  • The marked airfields. There were probably additional airfields
  • The railroad lines running into the airfield areas.
  • The nearby mountains, as high as 9,120 feet, southeast of the main airfield complex.
  • Ledo, the western terminal of the Ledo/Stilwell Road, built in 1943-44 to bypass Japanese-occupied areas.
Hump Airfields in Northern Assam
Hump Airfields in northern Assam
Although Hump operations began in mid 1942, infrastructure deficiencies in northeast India and limited American resources kept the Hump operation from reaching its goals until December 1943.

Until late in the war, Hump pilots had to fly over 15,000 foot ranges plagued with foul weather, since a more-direct route to the south was within range of Japanese interceptor aircraft.

The Air Transport Command lost 600 aircraft in the Hump operation, with 1,500 air crew deaths.
Hump Tonnage 1943
Hump Tonnage 1943
Sources for the Flying the Hump webpage:
  • The webpage header photo, Flying the Hump, is courtesy of historicaltruth101.com.
  • The WW II - Supply Line to China map is courtesy of http://iloveww2warbirds.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Hump-Map.jpg.
  • The Low Hump Route map is courtesy of https://www.warhistoryonline.com/guest-bloggers/guess-wwiis-biggest-airlift-hump.html.
  • The Upper Assam, India in WW II map is courtesy of ​http://www.firebirds.org/menu1/coleson3c.htm.
  • The Hump Tonnage 1943 chart is courtesy of the Pacific War On-line Encyclopedia at https://pwencycl.kgbudge.com.

Pottawattamie County, Iowa area WW II Dead - China-Burma-India > Flying the Hump
  • Taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea.
09-01 - China-Burma-India Theater > Flying the Hump - 1942-45: (four dead, updated 7 Oct 2020)
† Finley, Clyde Clem Jr., SN T-004898, USAAF, Harrison Co.
  • 1333rd AAF Base Unit, Chubua, Assam, India; Curtiss C-46A-5-CK Commando #43-47003 co-pilot; DNB 31 Aug 1945 in Assam, India; plane crashed on flight from Kumning, China to Chabua; initially buried at crash site 56 km NW of Dibrugarh-Chabua Airport; China-Burma-India Theater > Flying the Hump.
† Jones, Donald Eugene, SN 37-484-709, USAAF, Pott. Co.
  • 1305th AAF Base Unit, based at Dum Dum, near Calcutta/Kolkata, West Bengal, India; Douglas C-47B-1-DL Skytrain/Dakota #43-16261 radio operator; d. 27 Nov 1945 N of Kuala Lumpur, Malaya; flight from Singapore to Butterworth, Malaya; China-Burma-India Theater > Flying the Hump; BNR.
† Malick, William Burton, SN 17-024-190, USAAF, Pott. Co.
  • Air Transport Command; 6th Ferrying Sqdn., 1st Ferrying Gp., 10th Air Force, based at Mohanbari, Assam, India; Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota #41-38656 radio operator; DNB 2 Aug 1943, near Yunnanyi, W of Kumning, China on return cargo flight from Kumning to Mohanbari; China-Burma-India Theater > Flying the Hump.
† McCue, Dudley Van, SN 6554498, USAAF, Montgomery Co.
  • 87th or 88th Transport Sqdn., 22nd Air Transport Group; Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express # 41-11908 crew chief w/ pilot Hartvig Larsen of Omaha; d. 10 Sep 1943 on flight from Jorhat, Assam to Kumning, China; plane crashed in Hukawng Valley, Burma; China-Burma-India Theater > Flying the Hump; BNR.
Proudly powered by Weebly