083 - Across the Hump

The Overland Route to Burma

As Japanese Submarines and German U-Boats had cut off routes through the Indian Ocean, supply lines to places where war was being waged, such as Burma, had been all but cut off. The Allies in southern China and Burma were becoming desperate..

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In response, the US Army Air Corps developed a plan to create an overland Air Cargo Transport System. They used old DC-3 Passenger Jets, refitted for cargo transport.

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However, the US Army Air Force had another mission that was already underway.

Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle was leading a Bombing Run on Tokyo, taking off from the USS Hornet and landing at Air Bases in Mainland China.

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The B-25 Bombers would need refueling before they could return to the safety of Allied Bases further from the battlefront. The Army Air Corps turned to the B-17 Bomber to deliver the much needed fuel to these Bases. The B-17 was an old workhorse of a bomber that had been developed just before the outbreak of war in the Pacific. Known as the “Flying Fortress”, manufacturing of the B-17 began in spring 1938. The Allies planned to use the Flying Fortress throughout the Pacific, focusing on Hawaii, the Philippines, and China. However, engineers hadn’t considered the extreme conditions of the Himalayas.

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From the Royal Air Force Base in Calcutta, India, B-17 Flying Fortresses and the RAF Lancaster Bombers made trips over the Himalaya Mountains to Air Force bases in Kunming and Chungking, China.  These missions, however, cost many lives.

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Being the tallest mountains in the world, the Himalayas ranged from 14,000 to 20,000 feet. At these altitudes, the heavy bombers could take on ice, which would make them heavier and slower. Also, the air was extremely ting and air crews had to take special breathing equipment to supply oxygen for the trip. If the engines failed or the plane was shot down, crew members would have to delay the opening of their parachutes to ensure they had the oxygen they needed for their descent. With all these hazards, over 700 planes and 7,000 men were lost during travels ‘Over the Hump’. The missions were so dangerous that the flight plan was called “The Aluminum Trail” for all the wreckage scattered along the mountain range.

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