U.S. to search for missing WW2 airmen in India (B-24 wreck "Hot as Hell" found, flew "the Hump")

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 3/17/08 | Simon Denyer

[NormsRevenge]

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The wreckage of American B-24 aircraft is seen at Damroh village in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh December 7, 2006. In honour of the crouching, naked blonde painted on its nose, its pilot had named his bomber the 'Hot as Hell'. But it was a freezing and stormy day as the American B-24 Liberator made its way across the Himalayas on Jan 25, 1944, flying what was known as 'the Hump', perhaps the most dangerous route in air transport history. It was one of six American planes that went down that day as they tried to resupply China's besieged army in the city of Kunming, desperately trying to hold out against the invading Japanese during World War Two. Picture taken December 7, 2006. (MIArecoveries/Handout/Reuters)

[NormsRevenge]

A picture of First Lieutenant Irwin Zaetz of American B-24 aircraft is seen in this undated handout. In honour
of the crouching, naked blonde painted on its nose, its pilot had named his bomber the "Hot as Hell". ...
REUTERS/MIArecoveries/Handout

[blam]

These guys used to see ducks and geese ‘flying the hump’ too at 29,000 feet. (They weren’t believed for the longest)

[NormsRevenge]

The ducks and geese got an eyeful, I bet..

B-24 Best Web

[NormsRevenge]

http://www.b24bestweb.com/

[Mr. Silverback]

A salute for heroes proved in liberating strife. Hope they come home soon.

[jazusamo]

B-24 Hump Ping!

These were very brave men that flew the Hump.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

It just dawned on me - the B-24 was a bomber, but the article indicates these planes were used in a supply/re-supply effort.

I wonder if the planes were loaded at or beyond their specs, and if that might be one reason why so many of them couldn't make it over the Himalayas?

[perfect stranger]

MIA Hunter Bryan Moon spans the globe to find airmen who perished in battle

[Solitar]

Have the Chinese forgotten, or never learned, what American did for them in WWII?

[NormsRevenge]

I have a feeling they were loaded to the brim.. we bailed China’s cookies out in more than one way.. between the efforts of those who flew the Hump and flew in Chennault’s Flying Tigers.. it sure is sad to see today so much of that is forgot by today’s leaders in China... and many here.. but that’s just one more reason for FR to do what it can to do a little historical perspective and never forget the dedication and sacrifice of all those who flew and fought in WW2.

Veterans History Project Home
China-Burma-India: Flying the Hump
http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/cbi-flyingthehump.html

[NormsRevenge]

Memories are short lived things to totalitarian regimes.

[NormsRevenge]

This looks to have more details ..

http://www.aircargonews.com/060606/humpstory.html

[NormsRevenge]

from the link in above post

As a result the run quickly gained the ominous moniker “aluminum alley.”

During the three plus years of Hump operations, more than 167,285 trips were completed, delivering 760,000 tons of air cargo.

But the price was paid by 792 lives lost aboard 460 aircraft and in 701 major accidents.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Have the Chinese forgotten, or never learned, what American did for them in WWII?

Mao actually sat out WWII in the hopes that the Japanese would so weaken Chang Kai-shek that Mao could step into the power vacuum after the war was over.

Which, of course, he did.

PS: Stalin had kidnapped Chang Kai-shek's son many years earlier, and for almost two decades, Chang had to chase Mao all over China knowing that Stalin could murder his son at any moment.

[CarrotAndStick]

Relatives Want World War II Victims' Remains [WW2- India-China theatre]
Associated Press ^ | 17 Dec., 2007 | Associated Press

 

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The families of eight U.S. military men who died in a 1944 plane crash in the Himalayas want the Pentagon to step up efforts to recover their remains from the crash site discovered last year by a mountaineer.

Exactly what happened to the B-24 bomber dubbed "Hot as Hell," was a mystery for more than 60 years. It disappeared while on a flight from Kunming, China, to Chabua, India, to pick up weapons and other supplies and return to base in China.

Clayton Kuhles of Prescott, Ariz., a mountaineer who has made it his mission to search out crash sites along a route so deadly pilots called it the aluminum trail, found the wreck last December near Damrah, a village of 200 in northeastern India.

"I was so elated," Larry Zaetz said about hearing the plane that carried his older brother had been found. "To suddenly know that my brother's remains were within human reach, I just went through the ceiling."

But now Zaetz and other relatives say they've been frustrated by what they see as the Defense Department's slowness to send a team to India to retrieve crew members' remains.

Maj. Brian DeSantis, a spokesman for Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, in Hawaii, said he doubted such an effort would be launched anytime soon. He blamed political instability in the region and said the needed approvals from Indian government ministries, requested nearly a year ago, have not been granted.

"Once the area is deemed safe and we have the permissions, we'll follow up on this pretty quickly," DeSantis said.

Zaetz noted India is a U.S. ally, and he called reports of instability in the region out of date.

"I thought our motto was 'Leave no one behind,'" he said. "How can you treat military personnel like this? It's unbelievable. This is not to be accepted."

Larry Zaetz's son Gary was trolling the Internet in June when he decided to punch his uncle's name, 1st Lt. Irwin "Zipper" Zaetz of Burlington, into the Google search engine. He pulled up Kuhles' Web site, miarecoveries.org.

"He reported he had discovered a plane wreck," Gary Zaetz said. "He'd also done some heavy-duty documentary research on the aircraft so we knew it had to be the one that belonged to the crew that included my uncle."

The Web site include 16 photos of debris from the plane, which is believed to have hit the side of a mountain at about 9,000 feet altitude.

"I knew I couldn't rely on the U.S. government to put the information out, so I put it up on my Web site," Kuhles said. "I was hoping some relatives of the crew members would discover the Web site, and bingo — that's what happened."

DeSantis said JPAC typically does up to 50 recoveries a year and plans them a year ahead of time.

"There are 88,000 people still missing from different wars," he said. "We can't go to all the places at once. We make decisions based on the best information we have."

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1940729/posts

 

To: CarrotAndStick

Major Brian DeSantis states that instability in the area of the crash site makes a recovery mission difficult. With all due respect to Major DeSantis, this statement is not supported by the facts. The families have been informed directly by The Hon. Tapir Gao, a member of the Indian Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh, the state where the crash site was found, that the law and order situation there is quite good. Furthermore, the US State Department’s Consular Sheet on India does not include the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the list of northeastern Indian states that are known to have experienced ethnic separatist violence.
Furthermore, there is no evidence to substantiate Major DeSantis’ claim that JPAC requested approvals to access the crash site of the “Hot as Hell” almost a year ago. In fact, it was only this past month that the families were informed by the US Embassy in New Delhi that the US Government contacted the Indian Government for the first time about this site just a few weeks ago. The families themselves contacted senior Indian Government officials in November 2007, and these officials confirmed at that time that JPAC had still not notified the Indian Government about the crash site, eleven months after Mr. Clayton Kuhles of Prescott, Arizona reported his discovery to JPAC. That’s the real reason why no approvals were forthcoming from the Indian Government. JPAC simply failed to notify the Indian Government about the crash site’s existence. Thanks to the US Embassy in New Delhi, the Indian Government was finally notified.

Gary Zaetz,
Nephew of 1st Lt. Irwin G. Zaetz, navigator of the USAAF B-24 “Hot as Hell”

 

6 posted on 12/31/2007 12:27:43 AM EST by garyz

 
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Major Brian DeSantis states that instability in the area of the crash site makes a recovery mission difficult. With all due respect to Major DeSantis, this statement is not supported by the facts. The families have been informed directly by The Hon. Tapir Gao, a member of the Indian Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh, the state where the crash site was found, that the law and order situation there is quite good. Furthermore, the US State Department’s Consular Sheet on India does not include the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the list of northeastern Indian states that are known to have experienced ethnic separatist violence.
Furthermore, there is no evidence to substantiate Major DeSantis’ claim that JPAC requested approvals to access the crash site of the “Hot as Hell” almost a year ago. In fact, it was only this past month that the families were informed by the US Embassy in New Delhi that the US Government contacted the Indian Government for the first time about this site just a few weeks ago. The families themselves contacted senior Indian Government officials in November 2007, and these officials confirmed at that time that JPAC had still not notified the Indian Government about the crash site, eleven months after Mr. Clayton Kuhles of Prescott, Arizona reported his discovery to JPAC. That’s the real reason why no approvals were forthcoming from the Indian Government. JPAC simply failed to notify the Indian Government about the crash site’s existence. Thanks to the US Embassy in New Delhi, the Indian Government was finally notified.

Gary Zaetz,
Nephew of 1st Lt. Irwin G. Zaetz, navigator of the USAAF B-24 “Hot as Hell”

 

[Beowulf9]

They just don’t make men like that anymore.

Certainly not in great numbers anyway, to me it seems like so many men from that era were just real men, could be kind and loving but had guts too.

Thank goodness for these peoples doggedness that helped their families learn what happened.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks!

[anymouse]

China might not take kindly to an American military expedition on it’s SW border right now. The Tibetans sure could use some help though.

[NormsRevenge]

well, as long as we fly in international air space, the chinese will leave the crews alone, I’m sure. ;-)