China Airways on Hump Route

The Stillwell Road, the flying tigers and the Hump route more than 70 years ago were the testimony of the friendship between Yunnan and the US. Today, let’s follow Chinese historian Ge Shuya to trace historical moments more than 70 years ago.

In April 1929, Curtis-Wright of the United States established China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) in China. Six months later, CNAC came into operation.

The biggest contribution of CNAC in the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression was to transport overseas aid to China. After the Yunnan-Myanmar Road was opened, the US supplies was loaded at Lashio, Myanmar and transported to Yunnan by trucks, however, with limited amount. Therefore, CNAC made up the gap.

In mid 1942, the Japanese army occupied Myanmar, cutting off the on-land supplies from China’s allies. To replace the Yunnan-Myanmar Road, the Chinese and American governments decided to urgently open up an India-to-China air route, which was later known as the ‘Hump Route’. All the captains flying the route were American pilots while the copilots and crew were Chinese.

According to statistics, from May 1942 to September 1945, CNAC had dispatched a total of 80 thousand flights on the Hump Route, transporting 33,477 passengers, 24,720 tons of materials(tungsten, tin, tung oil, tea, bristles, mercury and silk) from China to India, and 50 thousand tons of supplies (petrol, aircraft parts, TNT, iron and steel, drugs, banknotes and gold)from India to China. What was more, the airlines had carried out 523 operations to air-drop grain supplies to Indian and Chinese road construction workers.

CNAC had paid a heavy price for the Hump Route transport with a total of 46 air crashes because of the harsh weather conditions, surpassing the losses of AVIC, and even some of the American Air Force’s combat forces.