The Short Lived and Ill-Fated Passenger Operation at Chabua

            C-46 2420, was en route from Chabua to Kunming on Aug. 2, 1943 with a load of 20 passengers.  After losing an engine, and not being able to maintain altitude, the pilot ordered all aboard to bail out.  (Complete details on the rescue of those aboard are available on page 17 of Chick Marrs Quinn’s excellent book, The Aluminum Trail.)

            One of the survivors was Eric Severeid, the well known newscaster, who was listed on the passenger manifest as “War Correspondent”.  Apparently after Mr. Severeid returned to the USA, he decried the fact that personnel were being flown over the most dangerous air route in the world (The Himalayas and Japanese-occupied  Burma) in twin- engine aircraft.  He must have struck a chord at a high level.  In early Oct. Jorhat was directed to transfer two C-87’s and four crews to Chabua to transport passengers from the Pologrounds to China.

            On Oct. 9, 1943, Captains Earl Perry, Kenneth O. Elkins, Ed Fallon and I flew our flight crews and C-87’s 42-107268 and 269 to Chabua on a permanent change of station.  We planned to make two flights each day.  Perry and Elkin would alternate on 269 and Fallon and I would alternate on 268.  Earl was ill on Oct. 11, so I took his flight that day.  I also offered to again fly his 269 on the 13^th since Earl was still DNIF; however, Ken said “Tex, you have made three round trips to China in the last three days.  I will take 269 tomorrow”.

            Ken Elkin took off from Chabua around 9 AM on the 13^th.  He was intercepted by Jap fighter aircraft 30 minutes later, was shot down and crashed in the dense Burmese jungle.  (See page 36 of The Aluminum Trail).

            We also lost our Chabua base commander at about this time.  Col. Renshaw overshot a runway in his P-40, flipped over on his back, and died of a broken neck.  He was not replaced till early 1944 when Col. “Black Bob” Baker arrived.

            It was also at this approximate time period that the India-China Wing got a new

CO, Brig. General William Tunner.  In order to increase tonnage over The HUMP, he ordered all Valley aircraft to fly around the clock.  The monsoons had ended, and Perry, Fallon and I kept our remaining C-87 very busy.  I made 35 round trips to Kunming in the 70 day period between Oct. 10, and Dec. 8, 1943.

            On Nov. 16, copilot Howard Tweed and I  picked up 35 Chinese troops at Sookerating.  For some reason the passenger oxygen system had not been serviced that day.  Not wanting a cabin full of hypoxiated, sick, or dead Chinamen, I swung far south of my normal easterly course, picked my way through numerous mountain passes, and flew to Kunming without going above 11,000 feet nor donning an oxygen mask.  Obviously, the weather was very good that day, and fortunately no Jap fighters were out.

            On several return trips from Kunming we had litter patients attended by doctors and medical technicians of the 803^rd Aero Medical Evacuation Squadron.  Because we had piled a lot of flying hours on our plane, it went down for a major scheduled inspection in late December.

            The aircraft came out of inspection on the last day of 1943.  Earl Perry took off from Chabua around 11 PM with a full load of passengers.  [It is possible that no functional test flight was made, an absolute must after this type of inspection].  Shortly after departure Earl radioed that he had mechanical problems and that he was turning around.  According to copilot Dick Nye’s account (see page 493 in Vol. One of China Airlift-The HUMP), the aircraft had lost two engines.

            Shortly after Earl’s departure a pea-soup winter ground fog had developed in the Valley, and he could obviously not get into Chabua under zero-zero conditions.  We heard at the time that Earl had made 2-3 passes at Sookerating before crashing.  Earl was killed and Dick Nye was critically injured and was in a coma for 21 days before awakening to find he had lost a leg.

            Questions about this flight have lingered in my mind for the past 60+ years.

            Was a functional test flight performed before the fatal flight?—an absolute must after a major inspection, engine change, work on the aircraft control system, prolonged groundings, etc.

            Did the aircraft really lose two engines, virtually simultaneously?  (Dick was comatose for a long time after the crash and could have had memory problems).  Also, the P&W R-1830 was one of the most reliable piston engines ever produced.

            Did Earl have other alternatives?  Could he have searched back to the east for better weather with eight hours of fuel aboard?

            An interesting sidelight:  Shortly before this flight, Earl had gon to the mess hall to pay his end-of-the-month mess bill.  The Mess Sergeant said “No problem, Captain, you can pay it tomorrow morning when you return from your flight”.  Earl responded “I may not be back”.

            Premonition?  Who knows?

Contributed by Warner "Tex" Rankin