HUMP PILOTS HOLD LAST REUNION THE ASSOCIATED PRESS May 8, 2011 WWII aviators flew supplies over Himalayas. JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — They are among the last of the greatest generation, World War II pilots who coaxed Curtiss C-46 Commando cargo planes laden with supplies over the highest mountain range in the world from India and Burma to China in what was called flying the Hump. Still their wits are sharp, their stories of battling horrendous weather and Japanese fighters compelling and their legs spry even climbing into the cockpit of the military’s latest generation transport, the battle-gray Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. But, with so few of them left, this month’s reunion of the so-called Hump pilots who flew over the Himalaya Mountains was their last. The reunions began back in 1946. Only six pilots were on hand last week, meeting with reporters at an antebellum garden and visiting Joint Base Charleston, an airlift base where a new generation of planes ferries supplies to American troops around the world. “We had hoped to have more people come but most of our guys are in their 90s,” said 91-year-old Bill Thomas of Charleston. Dwindling numbers, age and infirmity are taking their toll. The China-Burma-India Hump Pilot Association itself formally disbanded in 2005 because its members were getting older. Pilots began flying the Hump in 1942 to get supplies to China in its fight against Japan after the Japanese seized the Burma Road, closing the only land route. The operation continued until 1945 when the war ended. Almost 600 aircraft were lost with almost 1,700 dead or missing, according to the association. “Weather was a big, big problem, as were navigation problems and Japanese fighters,” recalled 88-year-old Bill Gilmore of Mason, Ohio. “There were thunderstorms all the time. The monsoon season was really bad.” Through summer and early fall there were thunderstorms severe enough to damage aircraft. Flying weather was clearer in the late fall and winter, but that brought out Japanese fighters and valleys were constantly fogged in. Pilots also battled mechanical problems, exacerbated by a lack of parts and the fact the C-46 Curtiss Commando was a new production model. “The C-46 was rushed into production and the bugs hadn’t been worked out,” Gilmore said. “The bugs were worked out over the Hump.” Another Hump pilot, Ted Connolly of Miami, Florida, died two years ago but his wife, Joanne, attended the reunion keeping his memory alive and sharing a story of one of his missions. “He said the Japanese fighters came on and just played with them,” she recalled, adding the fighter shot up the transport so badly it couldn’t be flown. “He told his crew to bail out, which they did and he said he got scared to jump out of the airplane and he managed to get it back,” she said. “He got away because he maneuvered and flew the Jap into the mountain.” Tex Rankin, 91, of Fort Worth, Texas, said he’s saddened the fellowship is coming to an end. “I enjoy these meetings,” he laughed. “We like to get together and tell the lies. As I told my wife, every time we meet, the Himalaya Mountains get higher, the weather gets worse and there are more Japanese fighters in the sky than there were in the whole fleet.” But before the fellowship dissolved, the pilots visited with today’s military transport crews and toured a C-17, something Gilmore had never seen up close. “I was amazed. The size of the cabin for the cargo was unbelievable,” he said. Later they had lunch with air crews based in Charleston. “With C-17s we’re high above the weather. We’re above the clouds and the mountains are beautiful to look at and not really a threat. For you guys flying, it was your main threat and that does not go unnoticed by the people in this room who fly,” Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Sonkiss, commander of the 15th Airlift Squadron of the 437th Airlift Wing told the pilots later. “Thank you for what you did.” As Gilmore looks back, what he and his buddies did never got as much attention as the war in the Pacific or Europe. But he said it was important to the Allied victory. “Through the Hump we were able to keep perhaps a million Japanese soldiers in China where they could have been in the South Pacific and delayed the war there for who knows how long,” he said. “It played a role, but nobody knew about it.”
It's got to be tough to decide on a last reunion. I hope they have many opportunities to reconsider. The Hump doesn't get much press anymore, but it really was important service. Thank you for posting this, Syscom.
There is a pilot at my church who flew that route. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he is not interested. He seems content to let it go. There is also a retired sgt major who was ground crew in India. He is 94 now. He'll talk about it some, but says he really did do much and I let him say it. They are both good men.
JW, Please pass on many thanks to them, as I am sure you already have. Hope you have avoided all the twister damage. Gimme Three Steps.