Loping Airfield is a former

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 ...

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 ...

airfield in the

People’s Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, located approximately 3 miles south of the community of Luoping in

Luoping County Luoping County () is located in Qujing City, in eastern Yunnan province, China, bordering Guizhou province to the east and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the southeast. The county of Luoping in eastern Yunnan is noted for its springtime ...

(Yunnan Province).

History

The airfield was a primary transport base on the Chinese side of "

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 ...

" air supply route over the Himalayan Mountains, which was used by

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 ...

for the transhipment of supplies from airfields in the

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 ...

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 ...

. In 1945,

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizati ...

also used the airfield as a transport base, primarily moving Chinese troops and their equipment from the base to other locations in China. The Americans used the base until the end of December 1945, when they closed their facilities at the station. The runway is not now used for fixed wing aircraft. A resort facility has been developed at th
south end
of the runway for housing visitors and providing them helicopter service to view canola crops when they are in blossom.

References

* Maurer, Maurer
Air Force Combat Units Of World War II
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983.
USAFHRA document search - Loping

External links

{{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in China