"The Hump" - WWII stuff

[Highlander]

This may be of interest to people that had family operational in the CBI...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/24/rugged-mountains-yield-hundreds-wwii-era-plane-crashes-lost-hump-airmen/?intcmp=related

[godofthunder]

 Thanks for posting that Kenny. The Aluminum Trail.

[Highlander]

A lot of good and great men flew that route and many never made it back...

[nofi]

my dad was up there at a small communications outpost for awhile. he thought a full moon in winter over the himalayas was the prettiest thing he had ever seen. his unit also found a horse? that he loved to ride during his deployment there.

[uwe]

More WW II stuff here, some rare  or even premiered footage and all in color, does make things rather vivid and some of the scenes of German atrocities are not for the faint-hearted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmkg4TpgEGM&feature=related

P-47 buffs should go to 1:56 in the film.

[TBird1958]

Ernest  K. Gann wrote about flying the hump, I recently read a B-29 book dealing with the 20th AF, during their time in INdia and the Pacific. While based in India the '29s were used in part to supply themselves at their forward bases in China, a fair number were lost doing this - due to weather and Japanese fighter action. Needless to say crash landing in the Himalayas meant you weren't going to be walking out alive.

[Highlander]

I have all of EK Gann's books - a great writer - a number were filmed or serialised... John Wayne starred in at least two I've seen - one "funny" for me was in The High and the Mighty when they had to open an outward opening door whilst in flight... duh... not going to happen if its opening forwards... not got this one but I do have Islands In The Sky...

My dad was flown out from Lake Indawgyi to Dibrugarh (near the western end of the "hump" destination to sou-sou-east over the same range) in a Sunderland during this time period - I'm an honorary member of the Squadron involved - It's their fault I'm here, after all (); part of the literary research project I'm deep into at present...

[uwe]

I didn't even know Zeros could fly high enough to cross Mount Everest or K 2! It wasn't really a high altitude fighter and in the Pacific Theater it needn't be either.

[TBird1958]

Everything was sluggish - The '29s were loaded up with fuel and bombs be ferried to China for future missions, early on the engines were notorious for overheating and dying. Many more were lost this way early in their deployment than due to actual loss in combat from flak or Japanese fighters

[Highlander]

I didn't even know Zeros could fly high enough to cross Mount Everest or K 2!

Looked up Zero's and they could reputedly get up to 33'k/10km...

"Hump" missions were lower... mostly flying around or into mountains was the result...
The Sunderlands were operating at around 10'K/3km on those missions mentioned (13 successful, taking out 537 sick/wounded/injured) and up to 17'K/5km approx (above rated ceiling height) for one other specific mission I'm aware of...
"Hump" flights were around the upper range mentioned above, iirc

C47/C54 ceiling is around 23'K and the C46 up to 27'K; B25 to 24'K and B25 to 28'K

[uwe]

Sunderlands in the Pacific Region? Who'd have thought!

[Highlander]

Some operated out of Australia, Singapore, Hing Kong, Malaya iirc. The Squadron that was involved with the Chindits (230) were based in Ceylon/Sri Lanka...

[clankenstein]

the RNZAF flew sunderlands from 1943 to 1967,i remember climbing inside the one  by the slipway at hobsonville as a kid. https://sites.google.com/a/aotea.org/don-armitage/Home/chatham-islands-nz/transport-to--from-the-chatham-islands/air-transport/rnzaf-sunderland-flying-boatsAND JUST FOR FUNhttp://www.ufocusnz.org.nz/content/1953---RNZAF-Sunderland-%E2%80%98Flying-Boat%E2%80%99-Encounters-UFO/87.aspx

[Highlander]

I think you had one of the last operating Sunderlands down your way, Tony... we were both a bit younger then...