WW II-era US aircraft wreckage to be on display in Arunachal museum

Tawang: A museum showcasing the wreckage of Allied Forces aircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh during World War II and other related articles will soon be thrown open to the public.

The museum, to be called 'The Hump Museum', is being set up at the initiative of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu in Pasighat and the state government plans to invite the US Ambassador to India for the inauguration.

"The museum is ready. It will be inaugurated next month," Khandu told PTI.

In 1942, when the Japanese army blockaded the 1,150-kilometre Burma Road -- a mountain highway connecting Lashio in present-day Myanmar and Kunming in China -- the Allied Forces had to undertake one of the biggest airlifts in aviation history.

The Allied Forces pilots nicknamed the route "The Hump" because their aircraft had to navigate deep gorges and then quickly fly over mountains rising above 10,000 feet.

"The Hump" comprises parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet and Myanmar, where nearly 650 aircraft are said to have crashed during World War II due to difficult flying conditions.

From 1942 to 1945, military aircraft transported nearly 6,50,000 tons of supplies such as fuel, food and ammunition from airfields in Assam to those in Yunnan in China.

The weather in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh is often unpredictable -- the visibility can drop to zero within seconds, coupled with sudden heavy winds -- making it difficult for planes and choppers to fly even today.

According to a US Embassy handout in 2017, investigators from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) returned to India that year to continue their search for the remains of US personnel missing since World War II.

In 2016, the DPAA deployed a team to northeast India for 30 days in search of the remains of unaccounted-for US airmen. The mission in 2017 was their fifth to India since 2013.

"There are approximately 400 US airmen missing in India, most of whose remains are believed to be located in the Himalayan mountains in northeast India. During World War II, the United States provided supplies to the Chinese army by flying over the Himalayas, a route known as 'The Hump'. Many of these aircraft went missing and were never found in the mountainous terrain," the US Embassy had said.