The Hump

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Allied lines of communication in Southeast Asia (1942–43). The Hump is shown at far right.

The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew from India to China to resupply the Flying Tigers and the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek.

The pilots started flying The Hump in April 1942 when the Japanese blocked the Burma Road, and they continued to do so until 1945 when the Ledo Road opened.

Flying over the Hump was a risky endeavour. The air route led first over the Himalayan foothills and finally to the mountains, between north Burma and west China, where violent turbulence and terrible weather was standard. Transport planes flew around the clock from any of thirteen bases in northeastern India, landing about 800 kilometres away at one of six Chinese airfields. Some crews flew as many as three round trips every day. Due to the isolated region, parts and supplies to keep the planes flying were in short supply, and flight crews were often sent into the foothills to gather up the debris from previous crashes for parts to repair the remaining units in the squadron.

The area is cut up by huge parallel gorges of the upper parts of some of the big rivers of South-East Asia: Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween, etc. One measure of the jaggedness of the terrain is the name of one of the mountains, which translates into English as "Elephant Head Gouge Mountain", because when elephants use a game trail on its side, at one place they have to turn such a sharp corner that their tusks scrape grooves into the rock. One local relic of this air traffic is native aluminium ware made in the area from wartime crash debris.

1 "The Hump"
2 See also
3 References
4 Further Reading

[edit] "The Hump"

Aviation equipment was ferried to China across the Himalayas, along the air bridge which received the name the "Camel’s Hump" (because the relief of the route was like the side view silhouette of a camel). In early May the Japanese seized three key settled points in Burma which cut across the Burma Road. To maintain uninterrupted supply to China of strategic materials requested by the Kuomintang government, the U.S. leaders agreed to organize an air bridge. It was built by transport aviation units of the American army and the air transport section of the Chinese Air Company. During 1942 to 1945 the Chinese received from the U.S. exactly 100 transport aircraft: 77 C-47 Dakotas and 23 C-46 Commandos.

Between India, Burma, and China there began to operate an airlift of unprecedented scale. In the west, the Hump began in India from a series of airfields strung out along the Assam section of the north east Indian railways,^[1] and passed over the mountains of Yongnan and a series of spines to Sichuan Province. After the opening of the air route, it became for the Chinese a true "road of life." The quantity of cargo transported reached 7000 tons every month. According to the reckoning of the Chinese, from May 1942 to September 1945, a total of 650,000 tons were transported, of which Chinese pilots accounted for 75,000 tons (about 12%). Also, along the air bridge 33,400 people were transported in both directions. The summary reached 1.5 million flight hours.

In spite of poor weather conditions, with inadequate navigational resources (there were not enough navigators for all the groups) the American and Chinese pilots day by day transported cargo to Chengdu, Kunming, and other cities. The air bridge worked until the end of the war, although it became less critical once the Ledo Road was opened, and with the recapture of Rangoon the re-opening of the Burma Road.

The flights were accompanied by large losses from bad weather, failures of equipment, and the attacks of Japanese fighters. In all, 468 American and 46 Chinese crews perished, totaling over 1500 aviators. Monthly losses reached 50% of aircraft flying at the same time along the route.

The Camel’s Hump was the largest and most extended strategic air bridge in the world. Only in 1948-49 was it exceeded in volume of cargo by the West Berlin air bridge, which was organised by Lieutenant-General William H. Tunner, a position he was given because of his experience in commanding and organising the airlift over the Hump.