Pungchacheng Airfield | |
---|---|
Part of Fourteenth Air Force | |
Zhejiang Province, China | |
Coordinates | 28°58′08″N118°27′25″E / 28.96889°N 118.45694°E Coordinates: 28°58′08″N118°27′25″E / 28.96889°N 118.45694°E (Approximate) |
Type | Military airfield |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
Site history | |
Battles/wars | China Defensive Campaign 1942-1945 |
Pungchacheng Airfield is a former World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield in China, located approximately 25 miles west of Quzhou (Zhejiang Province) in China.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
The United States Army Air Forces, informally known as the Air Force, or United States Army Air Force, was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army during and immediately after World War II (1939/41–1945), successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today, one of the five uniformed military services. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area. Governed by the Communist Party of China, the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
The airfield was the home of the 33d Fighter Group, which operated P-40 Warhawks and later P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers from the airfield during the summer of 1944. In late August, the 311th Fighter Group was reassigned from Tenth Air Force in Burma to Pungchacheng with P-51 Mustangs, remaining at the base until the end of the war in September 1945. The fighters supported the Chinese ground forces against the Japanese, attacking the enemy's communications, and supported ground operations. Later, the P-51s flew escort missions of B-24 and B-25 bombers, as well as interceptor missions against enemy aircraft from the field.
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The Americans closed their facilities at the end of 1945 and the airfield was turned over to local authorities. Today, the area where it existed during the war has since been developed into an industrial area. The airfield appears to have been developed into an airport after the war, as the remains of a large parking area and what appears to be two runways, aligned 16/34 and 02/20 are visible in aerial photography. The runways today appear to be roads in the industrial area, the large parking ramp being the foundation of several large buildings and storage tanks.
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