Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s2.2

v2.c13.s2.2

From 1938, when the Burma Road was completed till 1942, supplies to southwestern China from outside had been routed through Burma (now Myanmar). The Japanese invasion of Burma including Lashio, the starting point of the Burma Road in April 1942 cut off this vital access. Almost immediately, the process of airlifting military supplies and personnel into southwest China from airfields in eastern India started operating. This was the famous ‘Hump’ route so called because the aircraft had to fly over the easternmost spur of the Himalayas, where the peaks rose to nearly 20,000 ft and which was hence nicknamed ‘the Hump’ by the pilots. The China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), that started the operations, was joined by the American Volunteer Group known as the Flying Tigers. From June 1942 to September 1945, a total of over 700,000 tonnes of goods and over 33,000 passengers were flown over the Hump between India and China. Because of its dangerous nature, about 1,500 people and 514 aircraft were lost on this route by the time the War ended.