Hailakandi Airfield

Hailakandi Airfield
Part of Tenth Air Force
Hailakandi, India
Hailakandi Airfield
Coordinates	24°41′02.58″N 092°33′29.35″E / 24.6840500°N 92.5581528°E / 24.6840500; 92.5581528 (Approximate)
Type	Military airfield
Site information
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built	1944
In use	1944-1945
Battles/wars	Burma Campaign 1944-1945

Hailakandi Airfield is a former wartime United States Army Air Forces airfield in India, used during the Burma Campaign 1944-1945. It is now abandoned. Hailakandi is a district of the Indian state of Assam.

History

The airfield was the home of the 1st Air Commando Group, being formed at the base in March 1944. The unit was a United States Army Air Forces group of fighters, bombers, transports, military gliders and small planes operating in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. They were part of the U.S. Tenth Air Force providing close air support for the British Fourteenth Army in the Burma Campaign.

The Air Commando Groups was born out of a simple need. That need was to support via light airplanes the evacuation and resupply requirements of British Long Range Patrol (LRP) groups, or Chindits, as they were affectionately called. Carrying the lethal firepower of both bombers and fighters combined with the logistical tentacles of a gamut of transports, gliders, and light aircraft, this organization would reach deep behind enemy lines to do battle.

Once formed, the unit moved Asansol Airfield on 20 May 1944 and the airfield was used for non-combat operations for the remainder of the war.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

External links

USAAF Tenth Air Force in World War II Airfields Burma Bhamo Myitkyina Namponmao Sahmaw Tingkawk Sakan India Agartala Asansol Barrackpore Chakulia Chittagong Dinjan Dohazari Dudhkundi Dum Dum Fenny Guskhara Hailakandi Hathazari Kalaikunda Karachi Ledo Nagaghuli Nawadih Pandaveswar Panagarh Piardoba Sookerating Sylhet Tezgaon Tezpur Tulihal Units Groups Air Commando 1st Air Commando 2d Air Commando Bombardment 7th Bombardment 12th Bombardment 341st Bombardment Combat Cargo 1st Combat Cargo 3d Combat Cargo 4th Combat Cargo Fighter 23d Fighter 33d Fighter 51st Fighter 80th Fighter 81st Fighter 311th Fighter Reconnaissance 8th Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 443d Troop Carrier Squadrons 24th Combat Mapping 426th Night Fighter Squadron 427th Night Fighter Squadron United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth