Friday, September 08, 2000

'Hump' crews tell of awe, fear

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WWII heroes reunite, swap stories

By Lew Moores
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        The mountains were breathtaking, ranges that grew from 10,000 feet to 20,000 feet, as they passed from the Assam Valley in India on into China.

        “It was beautiful,” said Jack Distler of Louisville, recalling the majesty. “They were snow-capped. As tall as we were high. But it wasn't a pleasant place to be when the weather wasn't good.”

“Hump” pilots (from left) Maynard “Dusty” Rhoades, Roy Ladd and Jack Distler talk about their days of flying cargo planes over the Himalayas during World War II. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Mr. Distler was one of about 20,000 World War II fliers and crew who would come to be called “Hump” pilots. They guided C-47s and C-46s — transport planes — over the Himalayas, carrying supplies, fuel and soldiers between India and Burma and China from 1942 to 1945.

        More than 200 are meeting this week at the Regal Hotel downtown, the 55th annual reunion of the Hump Pilots Association Inc.

        Their numbers have dwindled from about 20,000 to 4,000. Most are in their 70s. The oldest is 94.

        “They all got a story to tell,” said Mr. Distler, 79, who is the chaplain of the association.

        There are stories about electrical fires on board their planes, losing engines, being blown off course and flying in cloud cover so intense the mountains couldn't be seen.

        “Our biggest problem was the weather,” said Bill Dees, 78, of San Antonio. He brought with him a scrapbook filled with photographs from his days as a Hump pilot.

ABOUT HUMP PILOTS

• About 20,000 participated in Hump flights during World War II, including pilots, co-pilots, crew chiefs, navigators, radio operators and flight engineers.   • More than 1,000 crew members were either killed or listed as missing in action. They flew mostly C-46s and C-47s.   • Douglas C-47s could reach a speed of 229 mph. They were used for transporting cargo and paratroopers, and as glider-tugs. About 10,000 of these planes were produced.   • Curtiss C-46s had a top speed of 269 mph. About 3,330 were produced.

        The supplies the Hump pilots delivered enabled the Allies to maintain a foothold in Asia, tying down more than 1 million Japanese soldiers, authors Jeff Ethell and Don Downie said in their book, Flying the Hump.

        “In spite of all the war stories, weather killed more of our people than anything,” said James Brewer, a retired Air Force colonel and Hump pilot from Marietta, Ga. “We didn't have the navigational aids that they have today. You wouldn't believe how primitive it was.”

        Nonetheless, some recalled the experience with enthusiasm.

        “It was very exciting,” said Roy Ladd of Fort Myers, Fla.

        Some of that excitement stemmed from thunderstorms. Winds of 100 knots were common. Mr. Dees made 78 missions, flying for six to 10 hours, at altitudes of 16,000 to 26,000 feet. The rear of the planes often were loaded with fuel, carried in 55-gallon drums. Sometimes the drums leaked.

        “You just opened a door and threw out the leaking ones,” Mr. Distler said. “It took two men.”

        Mr. Brewer said many pilots never got used to the environment.

        “Quite often the weather was so terrible that you, God and the co-pilot were all flying the airplane at the same time just trying to keep it upright,” he said. “The ice and snow and the turbulence and heavy rains...”

        The pilots also hauled Chinese troops, covering the floor with sand in case any got sick to their stomach — and they did — and running a rope across their laps. They hauled chickens, geese, ducks, pigs, even mules, leaving an odor that took a day to clear out.

        In addition to weather, they sometimes encountered Japanese planes.

        “You'd see 'em every once in a while,” Mr. Distler said. “When that happened, you'd duck into a cloud.”

        Toward the end of the war, the crews — made up of a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief and radio operator — were hauling 58,000 tons of supplies per month over the Himalayas. By the end of the war, 650,000 tons of fuel and supplies had been delivered.

        “I'll tell you, in all frankness, I never made a single trip where I wasn't scared stiff,” Mr. Brewer said.

        “Somehow or other, we got the job done.”
       

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