When the air force’s Antonov An-32 military transport aircraft disappeared in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3, it wasn’t the first to fly into what airmen since World War II have been calling the ‘graveyard’ of planes.
History & The Hump
The legend of the Hump began between 1942 and 1945, during US operations against Japanese forces in China by crossing the tallest mountains of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) or present-day Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas.
Eighty one per cent of supplies entering China went from Assam, over the Hump. Aircraft flew from the busiest air strips during World War II—Chabua, Dinjan and Doomdooma, 100 km south of Mechuka in Arunachal by air.
Lost & Mostly Unfound
509 planes were lost in the Hump operations during World War II, plus 81 still ‘missing in action’ in official records. 1,314 crew members died and 345 are still ‘missing in action’.
The Death Trap
In the Hump...
THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS...
To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.
