The "Hump" refers to the mountainous area at the eastern edge of the Himalayas, north of Myanmar. This was a notorious flight route during the Second World War used by the Allies to fly supplies into the West of China. It was vital in the war effort but is one of the most dangerous routes ever flown.
While the first supply mission over "The Hump" occurred in April 1942, regular Hump operations began in May 1942 with twenty-seven aircraft (converted US airline DC-3s, C-39s and C-53s) and approximately 1,100 personnel from New Malir Air Base, a British base located in the Sind Desert about twenty miles east of Karachi in western India.
The air routes went over the eastern part of the Himalayan Mountains. This operation was the first sustained, long range, twenty-four hours around-the-clock, all weather military aerial supply line in history. It was a start-from-scratch operation. There was no precedent for it. Even with the opening of an alternate ground route in early 1945, The Hump remained the principal supply route until after the war ended.
During 1944, the Hump flights grew exponentially in terms of tonnage, organization, and operational sophistication. They became quite simply the world’s biggest international airline. By the end of the war the ATC Division increased from 369 to 722 aircraft and personnel numbers from 26,000 to more than 84,000, including 4,400 pilots. Early in 1945, the monthly cargo delivered to China reached 44,000 tons, peaking at 71,000 tons in July. Between August 1944 and October 1945, The Hump delivered almost 500,000 tons of material from India to China.
The cost in aircraft and crews was enormous. Loss estimates vary between 468 and 600 plus airplanes (the AAF did not record every crash), but the more probable estimate is 590 aircraft lost along with 1,314 crewmen. Some 1,171 men who after surviving crash landings and bailouts walked out to safety; 345 men were declared missing
Operations ended, after three and one-half years, on November 15, 1945, the day The Hump was officially closed.
We have prepared a recommended LittleNavMap flight plan if you wanted to fly the route more realistically, which you can download from here if you wish.
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Date | Departure | Arrival | Pilot | Aircraft | Landing rate | Distance | Flight time | ||
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27NOV24 0712Z | VECA | ZPPP | Scotty Clifford | Airbus A320 (A320) | -133 ft/m | 525 nm | 01:12 | View | |
08OCT24 0127Z | ZPPP | VECA | Zaarrd | Beechcraft Super King Air 350 (B350) | -105 ft/m | 452 nm | 01:44 | View | |
20AUG24 1358Z | ZPPP | VECA | Roger Abram | BEECH 60 Royal Turbine Duke (B60T) | -128 ft/m | 455 nm | 01:48 | View | |
14AUG24 0620Z | ZPPP | VECA | Nexus 19 | Boeing 737-800 (B738) | -48 ft/m | 551 nm | 01:18 | View | |
31JUL24 0219Z | ZPPP | VECA | Aaron Priest | Honda HA-420 HondaJet (HDJT) | -277 ft/m | 463 nm | 01:18 | View | |
18JUL24 0205Z | VECA | ZPPP | Rp | Aveko VL-3 (VL3) | -65 ft/m | 471 nm | 00:59 | View | |
28JUN24 0141Z | ZPPP | VECA | Krupke77 | Douglas DC-3 (DC3) | -232 ft/m | 491 nm | 02:57 | View | |
20JUN24 2310Z | ZPPP | VECA | Blanche | Socata TBM-9X0 (TBM9) | -112 ft/m | 498 nm | 01:33 | View | |
09JUN24 0820Z | ZPPP | VECA | Niels1501 | Boeing FA-18E Super Hornet (F18S) | -901 ft/m | 459 nm | 00:52 | View | |
21MAY24 1939Z | ZPPP | VECA | HuseeN AL Shammari | Airbus A320 (A320) | -472 ft/m | 554 nm | 01:27 | View | |
01MAY24 1403Z | ZPPP | VECA | VAF125 Antonino | Boeing 737-800 (B738) | -234 ft/m | 516 nm | 01:37 | View | |
05MAR24 1713Z | VECA | ZPPP | Daiki Decimus | Cessna 414 Chancellor (C414) | -49 ft/m | 464 nm | 01:53 | View | |
26FEB24 1938Z | ZPPP | VECA | Devildude1 | Grumman F-14 Tomcat (F14) | -314 ft/m | 459 nm | 00:29 | View | |
25FEB24 1252Z | VECA | ZPPP | VAF187 Angelo | Airbus A320 neo (A20N) | -34 ft/m | 534 nm | 01:14 | View | |
06FEB24 0936Z | ZPPP | VECA | VAF121 Marco | Socata TBM-850 (TBM8) | -49 ft/m | 487 nm | 02:17 | View | |
05FEB24 2033Z | ZPPP | VECA | Newhampshires | Cessna 525C Citation CJ4 (C25C) | -48 ft/m | 452 nm | 01:21 | View | |
04FEB24 0812Z | ZPPP | VECA | VAF118 Gennaro | Airbus A320 neo (A20N) | -92 ft/m | 485 nm | 01:23 | View | |
30JAN24 1903Z | VECA | ZPPP | Mark Gee | Airbus A320 neo (A20N) | -119 ft/m | 453 nm | 01:01 | View | |
22JAN24 1053Z | ZPPP | VECA | VAF276 Giulio | Douglas DC-6 (DC6) | -145 ft/m | 478 nm | 02:03 | View | |
19JAN24 0446Z | VECA | ZPPP | Darryl Turner | Eurofighter EF 2000 / Typhoon (EUFI) | -74 ft/m | 708 nm | 00:40 | View |