History's first airlift was the Hump, a hazardous 500-mile route over the mighty Himalaya Mountains. From a dozen fields in eastern India, hundreds of American pilots delivered supplies to China to keep her in World War II against Japan. This is the story of one C-46 pilot who made 96 round-trip flights on this scary course. What was it like? Fear was a passenger on every flight -- not just the fear of crashing into the world's highest peaks or bailing out into the world's densest jungle, but also fear of the fierce weather. Thunderheads, some towering to 40,000 feet, brought panic to the heart. Like toys, the planes were tossed about in a deluge of rain or in a howling snow storm, ice driving hard against the windshield, forming on the wings and props and in the carburetors, unimaginable turbulence, airspeed dropping to stalling then rushing to a redlined 280 mph. But every now and then, the day broke clear and the night starry; the awesome beauty and majesty of the mountains could soothe a pilot's soul. The author includes in the memoir his reflections on his growing up years in the Depression before the war, and on his year in the China-Burma-India Theater: guests of the Maharajah, buzzing the Taj Mahal, comic goings-on on the base and elsewhere. He reserves his most emotional reflections for his joy at coming home.
Author: Carl Frey ConsteinPublisher: Authorhouse
Published: 07/17/2003
Pages: 152
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.41lbs
Size: 8.06h x 5.08w x 0.39d
ISBN13: 9781585006434
ISBN10: 1585006432
BISAC Categories:-
Biography & Autobiography |
MilitaryAbout the Author
Dr. Carl Frey Constein is a former school superintendent and education writer. Born in 1920 in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, a child of what Tom Brokaw has popularized as 'The Greatest Generation, ' he lived through the Depression then faced the century's other great period -- World War Two. He was inducted into the Army in 1943, transferred to the Air Corps, and received his pilot's wings and second lieutenant's commission in August 1944, at Waco, Texas. He was sent to eastern India to fly cargo to China in C-46s. For his 750 hours flight time on the Hump he was awarded two Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Facing danger and tough decisions in flight was, he believes, superb preparation for running a school district, especially during the turmoil of the Sizzling Sixties. Dr. Constein received his doctorate at Temple University. He has traveled widely and enjoys music and the performing arts, tennis, bridge, and golf. He lives near Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania
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