Chabua Air Force Station  | |||||||||||
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 The base in 1944 | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||
| Operator | Indian Air Force | ||||||||||
| Location | Chabua, Assam, India | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 367 ft / 112 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 27°27′44″N095°07′05″E / 27.46222°N 95.11806°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  VECA Location of Chabua Air Force Station, India  VECA VECA (India) | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Chabua Air Force Station( ICAO : VECA) is an Indian Air Force base located at Chabua of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam, India.
This Base was built in 1939. During World War II it was a major supply point for the ferrying of supplies to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's forces in and around Kunming, China. This was known as "Flying the Hump".
The Japanese occupation of Burma in 1942 had cut off the Burma Road, the last land route by which the Allies could deliver aid to the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek. Until the Burma Road could be retaken and the Ledo Road completed, the only supply route available was the costly and dangerous route for transport planes over the Himalayas between India's Assam Valley and Kunming, China. This route became known as the Himalayan Hump or simply The Hump.
Operated initially by the United States Army Air Forces Ferrying Command (later Air Transport Command) China Ferrying Command (later ATC India China Wing). The 1st Ferrying (later Transport) Group operated three squadrons of C-47 Skytrain and C-46 Commando aircraft from Chabua. The airfield was also an important layover stop of the ATC Karachi-Kunming air transport route. Flights operated west to Agra Airport, Willingdon Airfield (New Delhi), Gaya Airport, Assam (Borjhar Airport) and east into Dali Airport, and Kunming (Wujiaba Airport) in China
While the route kept the transports relatively free from enemy attack (Enemy action destroyed only seven aircraft, killing 13 men) it led over rugged terrain, through violent storms, with snow and ice at the higher altitudes the planes flew over the mountains. Flying the Himalayan Hump would turn out to be some of the most dangerous flying in the world. Over the course of action there were 460 aircraft and 792 men lost. Still, the operations were a success. There were 167,285 trips that moved 740,000 tons of material to support Chinese troops and other Allied forces.
In addition to the ATC transport units, elements of the Tenth Air Force 380th Bombardment Group, 375th Bombardment Squadron operated B-24 Liberators from the airfield, flying long range bombardment missions into Burma, south China, Thailand (Bangkok) and well as French Indochina (Haiphong). A total of 8 B-24s were lost. Also the B-24s were used to ferry aircraft fuel into China.
The airfield was abandoned after World War II. IAF commenced operations from this airfield in 1962 amid increased tensions with China and following the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Initially Dakotas and Vampires, later Hunters, Otters and Mi-4 helicopters commenced air operations from Chabua air base. In the mid-seventies, subsequent to the runway upgradation and renovation.
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) based in China. Creating an airlift presented the USAAF a considerable challenge in 1942: it had no units trained or equipped for moving cargo, and no airfields existed in the China Burma India Theater (CBI) for basing the large number of transports that would be needed. Flying over the Himalayas was extremely dangerous and made more difficult by a lack of reliable charts, an absence of radio navigation aids, and a dearth of information about the weather.
Operation Matterhorn was a military operation of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II for the strategic bombing of Japanese forces by B-29 Superfortresses based in India and China. Targets included Japan itself, and Japanese bases in China and South East Asia. The name comes from the Matterhorn, a mountain traditionally considered particularly difficult to climb.
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Dinjan Airfield, also known as Dinjan Air Force Station, is an air base of Indian Air Force. Established as an air field in World War II, it is located in Dinjan, approximately seven miles northeast of Chabua, in the state of Assam, India.
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The South Pacific air ferry route was initially established in the 1920s to ferry United States Army Air Service aircraft to the Philippines. As the Japanese threat in the Far East increased in 1940, General Douglas MacArthur planned that in the event of war, the United States Army Air Corps would play a major role in defending the Philippines. The reinforcement by the Air Corps of forces in the Philippines, and later Allied forces in Australia, became the basis for developing the South Pacific air ferry route used during World War II.
The 971st Airborne Warning and Control Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit designation. It was designated on 15 January 1985 by the consolidation of the World War II 1st Troop Carrier Squadron, which was inactivated on 18 December 1945 at Fort Lawton, Washington; the 1st Strategic Support Squadron, which was inactivated on 15 January 1959 at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, and the 1st Air Transport Squadron, which was inactivated on 20 June 1971 at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
The 304th Special Operations Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit designation. It was designated on 15 September 1985 by the consolidation of the World War II 304th Transport Squadron, which was disbanded on 1 December 1943 at Mohanbari Airport, India, and the 4th Strategic Support Squadron, which was discontinued and inactivated on 15 March 1961 at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency. 
Media related to Chabua Air Force Station at Wikimedia Commons
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