Flying “the Hump”
Flying the treacherous Himalayan Hump (from the collection of 1/Lt. Robert J. Koss, KIA on a 3rd Bomb Squadron mission on May 16, 1945; shared with me by one of his nieces)
After spending the summer of 1944 in Assam, India, while flying bombing and strafing missions into Burma, Maj. Chester M. Conrad’s squadron was finally on its way to China. According to 1st Bombardment Group's Special Orders No. 89, fifteen American officers and forty-one American enlisted men of the 3rd Bombardment Squadron were transferred from "Deragon," India, to Kweilin, China. These included Maj. Conrad; Capts. Graves, Hodges, Seacrest, Kelso, Wood, Young, Cunningham, King, and Simpson; 1st Lts. Dorr, MacNeil, and Ragland; 2nd Lt. Faherty; 1st Sgt. Earley; M.Sgts. Grant and Fuller; T.Sgts. Libolt, Solyn, Hanrahan, and Shock; S.Sgts. Chasse, Gruber, Holmes, Jakubasz, Meikle, Rieks, Wilkerson, Armstrong, Dunlap, Haines, Hoyle, McCann, Mier, and Summerville; Sgts. Duffin, Hall, Malone, Thompson, Barge, Evitts, Hoke, Mills, and Whearty; Cpls. Allegretto, England, Long, Peters, Trout, Burton, Learn, Jackson, and Rickman; Pfc. Wadlow; and Pvt. Piecuch.
Thirty-five Chinese officers and ninety-seven Chinese enlisted men were transferred by the same order under the command of Maj. Wu C. C. (listed separately in “Chinese Air Force Personnel Listed in Movement Orders.”)
The men at Dergaon were divided into three groups and alerted to be ready “at a moment’s notice” for transport by Air Transport Command, which was to ferry them over “the Hump” of the treacherous Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. Then they waited as inspectors searched planes and baggage. The first group was off on the morning of August 26. The other two were ready to leave at 1900, but one of the transports had engine trouble and was unable to get away until the following day.
Their route from the Brahmaputra Valley floor, ninety feet below sea level at Chabua, crossed the surrounding mountain wall that rises abruptly to 10,000 feet and higher. So steep are the peaks that transport pilots always circled two or three times before gaining sufficient altitude to surmount the first range. Flying eastward out of the valley, the transports first topped the Patkai Range and then passed over the upper Chindwin River Valley, bounded to the east by a 14,000-foot ridge of the Kumon Mountains. From there they flew over a series of 14,000- to 16,000-foot ridges separated by valleys of the West Irrawaddy, East Irrawaddy, Salween, and Mekong rivers before crossing the main Hump—the Santsung Range, 15,000 feet at its highest peaks—that lies between the Salween and Mekong rivers. The terrain became progressively less rugged as they approached Kunming.
Flying the Hump took planes over rugged terrain, often through violent storms, sudden down drafts, and snow and ice at higher altitudes. Hump flights were particularly perilous because most of them were made at night to avoid Japanese planes that patrolled the route. The lack of accurate navigational charts and absence of radio navigational aids increased the hazard. It was some of the most dangerous flying in the world―so dangerous, in fact, that every flight over the Hump was logged as a combat mission, due not only to these conditions but also because of the possibility that the planes might be attacked by enemy fighters, although this threat was diminished after the capture of Myitkyina’s airfield.
The stretch that must be traversed was relatively short―about five hundred aerial miles―but more than seven hundred planes went down while attempting the crossing, with more than double that number lost in personnel. Wreckage that littered the slopes below was so dense that the route became known as "the Aluminum Trail,” and those who survived a crash faced the added perils created by the craggy terrain, Japanese patrols, and even fierce Naga headhunters who inhabited the mountainous border region over which 3rd Squadron B-25s had regularly crossed on their way to bombing and strafing targets in Burma.
When the first of the CACW's planes made their way across the “High Hump” in late October 1943, one of the C-47 transport planes went down. Lost were 1st Lt. Adrian P. Stroud, five American enlisted men, five Chinese pilots, and five Chinese enlisted men (personnel of the 28th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Fighter Group), as well as a Chinese major general and his aide. Their bodies were recovered and buried by Chinese villagers. Hazardous conditions caused the 2nd Bomb Squadron's B-25s to delay crossing until conditions improved. Flying one of the 2nd squadron’s Mitchells, then Lt. Mark T. Seacrest attempted the crossing on October 25 but was forced to turn back to change out an engine. With a minimal crew that included then Sgt. William T. Earley Jr., he successfully reached Kunming the following day.
Lt. William L. Daniels, who later assisted in training of 3rd squadron Chinese airmen, was the pilot of one of the last three 2nd squadron planes to make the move. He recorded the experience in his personal flight log/diary on November 3: "We took off from Chabua at 1000 this morning to cross the 'Hump' and for what counts as our first combat mission. The Japs patrol this section and have shot down a few transports. We climbed to 17,500 feet and then just missed some of the high ridges. The mountain ranges run north and south and it is the most rugged country in the world.” The compass of the lead plane stuck, taking them fifty miles off course. "About halfway over my right engine began to foul up and smoke. I stayed with the formation until we arrived over Kunming. Then my engine quit and I went in on one engine. The field is 6000 ft high and I landed down wind to avoid circling. Made it okay. . . . I will have to have an engine change here" (taken from Daniels’ diary and sent to me by his son.)
Even when the planes did make it across without mishap, conditions for passengers and aircrews were far from comfortable. Those who had become accustomed to the steamy climate of Assam particularly suffered from the sub-zero temperatures as the aircraft made their ascent over and around the snow-capped peaks. Although the planes did have heaters, they were usually broken, so passengers and crew sat on their feet to prevent them from developing frostbite, according to Simpson. Because there was no oxygen supply to the passenger positions of the Curtiss C-46 Commando and Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports, it was administered as needed from portable units for those feeling the effects of hypoxia as they huddled in their cold, hard aluminum bucket seats.
My dad, James H. “Hank” Mills, retained vivid recollections of the experience many years later and related, "We went over into China and landed at Kunming. We flew the Hump.” Wujiaba Airfield (24⁰59'32"N, 102⁰44'36"E), on the north end of Tien Chen (Dianchi) Lake, was only about 2.5 miles southeast of Kunming. Formerly headquarters for Chennault's AVG and then the CATF, the base had also served as headquarters for the 14th Air Force until the previous month.
When Capt. Thomas S. Simpson arrived in Kunming with the 1st Bomb Squadron in January 1944, he and "all the boys" went into town for a steak dinner. "Kunming is the dirtiest of all the towns since I left Miami," he wrote in his diary (sent to me by his son). The next night he went with two others to a restaurant where they enjoyed a feast that included sweet and sour pork, baked duck, rice, fish, and sour bread, followed by a whole chicken surrounded by chicken soup. "Really good," he declared. The tab was $2,200.00 CN (Chinese Nationalist dollars). At the then-current black-market rate of eighty CN per US dollar, the meal cost $27.50 for the three of them―considered to be an unreasonably high price that reflected the out-of-control inflation for goods and services in this city that served as a vital war-time hub.
The 3rd squadron's B-25s did not move to China at the same time as the ground crews but stayed behind with personnel sufficient to maintain them and fly them over the Hump later, when weather conditions improved. Remaining behind were Maj. Conrad; Capts. Cunningham, Graves, Hodges, and Simpson; 1st Lts. MacNeil, Ragland, and Dorr; M.Sgt. Fuller; T.Sgts. Hanrahan, Hoyle, Libolt, and Shock; S.Sgts. Barge, Wilkerson, Armstrong, and Rieks; Sgt. Whearty; and Cpls. Rickman and Trout. On August 26, Capt. Simpson, 1st Lts. MacNeil and Dorr, T.Sgt. Shock, and S.Sgts. Rieks and Armstrong were directed to proceed to Bangalore "for the purpose of ferrying A/C to their proper sta[tion].” Simpson, released that morning from the hospital, wrote that they were waiting at Chabua to go on by ATC to Bangalore. “Mac [Lt. Robert C. MacNeil] and I went to see Pop [Capt. Howard M. Goeller] tonight. He’s Asst. Air Inspector for the 10th Air Force.” They returned a few days later with three new B-25Js. Those, along with the squadron's other B-25s, were expected to go into action as soon as the crossing to China could be completed.
After a brief stay in Kunming, the men continued their move by ATC about 450 miles almost due east to Liuliang, where inspectors again searched baggage and confiscated a large amount of contraband. Lt. George P. Wood and fourteen American enlisted men departed by ATC on August 30 for Erh Tong Airfield at Kweilin, about sixty miles farther northeast, and Capt. James C. Kelso and Lt. Paul L. Young accompanied thirteen American enlisted personnel on the thirty-first. The squadron's remaining American personnel, with thirty Chinese officers and enlisted men, completed the transfer on September 1.
There is far more to this story than can be included here. Read it all in The Spray and Pray Squadron: 3rd Bomb Squadron, 1st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II.