The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
extreme east of India to bases in Burma for transfer to Chungking
by land transport. General Naiden’s survey indicated that the normal
run should be between the RAF base a t Dinjan and Myitkyina, with
occasional runs as far as Yunnanyi after the monsoon was spent.
There was only one airdrome suitable for the purpose a t Dinjan,
where three would be required, and the unusually heavy rainfall of
the region left little prospect that the additional fields could be made
ready before fall. A field at Myitkyina could be put in satisfactory
state by 1 5 May, and two others could probably be completed by
November. With these limitations, he doubted that more than twenty-
five planes could be operated, and he anticipated that the service
would be uncertain during the approaching rainy season.39
Though the Americans had not yet had time to explore thoroughly
the idiosyncrasies of the Indian transportation systems, it was already
evident that they must depend upon air transport between Karachi
and Dinjan hardly less than from Assam to Burma. Accordingly, by
the end of March, General Naiden had drafted plans for two trans-
port commands: the Trans-India would operate between Karachi and
Dinjan, and the Assam-Burma-China would run from Dinjan to
Myitkyina and occasionally to Loiwing under a plan to extend the
service in time to Kunming and Chungking. Col. Robert Tate even-
tually assumed command of the Trans-India operations. Colonel
Haynes, then en route to India with a flight of transports and
bombers, was chosen for the other command.40Pending Haynes’ ar-
rival, Col. William D. Old proceeded to Dinjan during the first week
of April on assignment as executive officer and to take charge of
preliminary arrangements.
His first immediate task, aside from the routine of providing quar-
ters and supplies for personnel, was to assist in the delivery of 30,000
gallons of aviation gasoline and 500 gallons of lubricants to China for
the use of Colonel Doolittle’s Tokyo raiders, then already at sea
aboard the Hornet.” Ten Pan American DC-3’s from the trans-
African contract services had been made available to haul the gasoline,
of which 8,000 gallons were in Calcutta, where the tactical situation
demanded that it be moved immediately. There was not enough
storage space a t Dinjan, and so two of the transports on 6 and 7 April
hauled the fuel from Calcutta to Asansol in western Bengal, whence
it was subsequently transferred via Dinjan to China.41
* See above, pp. 438-44.
498