Chabua Air Force Station is an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

base located at

Chabua Chabua (IPA: or ) is a town and a town area committee in Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam, India. Chabua is situated in between Dibrugarh town and Tinsukia town on NH-37 from both the district towns, respectively. Its name derives fro ...

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam ...

district in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

History

US Air Force

This Base was built in 1939. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was a major supply point for the ferrying of supplies to Generalissimo

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

's forces in and around

Kunming, China Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headqua ...

. This was known as "

Flying the Hump 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 military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and ...

". The

Japanese occupation of Burma The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, w ...

in 1942 had cut off the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sin ...

, the last land route by which the Allies could deliver aid to the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek. Until the

could be retaken and the

Ledo Road The Ledo Road (from Ledo, Assam, India to Kunming, Yunnan, China) was an overland connection between India and China, built during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver supplies to China and aid the war effort against Japan ...

completed, the only supply route available was the costly and dangerous route for transport planes over the Himalayas between India's

Assam Valley The Brahmaputra Valley is a region situated between hill ranges of the eastern and northeastern Himalayan range in Eastern India. The valley consists of the Western Brahmaputra Valley covering the regions of Goalpara and Kamrup; the Central ...

and Kunming, China. This route became known as the

Himalayan Hump 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 military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek a ...

or simply

The Hump 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 military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and ...

. Operated initially by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Ferrying Command (later

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

) China Ferrying Command (later ATC India China Wing). The 1st Ferrying (later Transport) Group operated three squadrons of

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained ...

and

C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

aircraft from Chabua. The airfield was also an important layover stop of the ATC

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headqua ...

air transport route. Flights operated west to Agra Airport,

Willingdon Airfield Safdarjung Airport is an airport in New Delhi, India, in the neighbourhood of the same name. Established during the British Raj as Willingdon Airfield, it started operations as an aerodrome in 1929, when it was India's second airport after the ...

(

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

), Gaya Airport,

( Borjhar Airport) and east into Dali Airport, and

( Wujiaba Airport) in China While the route kept the transports relatively free from enemy attack (Enemy action destroyed only seven aircraft, killing 13 men) it led over rugged terrain, through violent storms, with snow and ice at the higher altitudes the planes flew over the mountains. Flying the Himalayan Hump would turn out to be some of the most dangerous flying in the world. Over the course of action there were 460 aircraft and 792 men lost. Still, the operations were a success. There were 167,285 trips that moved 740,000 tons of material to support Chinese troops and other Allied forces. In addition to the ATC transport units, elements of the

Tenth Air Force The Tenth Air Force (10 AF) is a unit of the U.S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field (formerly Carswell ...

380th Bombardment Group 38 may refer to: * 38 (number), the natural number following 37 and preceding 39 *one of the years 38 BC, AD 38, 1938, 2038 *.38, a caliber of firearms and cartridges **.38 Special, a revolver cartridge *'' Thirty-Eight: The Hurricane That Tra ...

375th Bombardment Squadron The 375th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 308th Bombardment Wing stationed at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York. History Activated in early 1942 in Idaho as a long-range B-24 Lib ...

operated

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models d ...

s from the airfield, flying long range bombardment missions into

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, south China,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

(

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

) and well as

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

(

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong w ...

). A total of 8 B-24s were lost. Also the B-24s were used to ferry aircraft fuel into China.

Indian Air Force

The airfield was abandoned after World War II. IAF commenced operations from this airfield in 1962 amid increased tensions with China and following the

annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered hi ...

. Initially Dakotas and Vampires, later Hunters, Otters and Mi-4 helicopters commenced air operations from Chabua air base. In the mid-seventies, subsequent to the runway upgradation and renovation.

References

* * Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . *

External links

Chabua Air Force Base
at GlobalSecurity.org * https://web.archive.org/web/20070910030113/http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/airlift/airliftpg7.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20070730081323/http://warren421.home.comcast.net/history.html {{Indian Air Force Indian Air Force bases Transport in Dibrugarh Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in British India Airports in Assam Airports established in 1939 1939 establishments in India World War II sites in India

History

US Air Force

Indian Air Force

See also

References

External links