Flying the Hump: A Photographic History of Sino-American Air Transport During World War II> Author talk

On Sept. 29, five high school authors from the San Francisco Bay Area: Lucas Yuan from Palo Alto High School, Catherine Liu from Khan Lab School, Everett Wang from Los Gatos High School, Ellie Wang from Monta Vista High School, Patrick Hao from Homestead High School and Doctor Hsiao-Ting Lin held an author talk at the East Asia Library of Stanford University, showing participants their understanding of the Sino-Japanese War and the Hump Airlift operation.

Under the guidance of Doctor Hsiao-Ting Lin, a researcher of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and director of the East Asia Department of the Hoover Archives, the five students co-wrote “Flying the Hump” based on resources provided by the National Archives and Taiwan’s National History Museum. With exclusive photos and detailed text, the book records the most evocative period in the history of Sino-American aviation collaboration.

During the eight years of the Sino-Japanese War during World War II, the United States cooperated with China to support them in their war against the Japanese, opening air routes between northeastern India all the way to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Pilots who transported war supplies risked flying over the eastern section of the Himalayas known as the “Hump.” The route had an altitude of 4,500–5,500 meters with a maximum altitude of 7,000 meters, making it the harshest and most arduous aviation journey in the history of world aviation. From 1942 to 1945, the Hump operation flew a total of 1.5 million hours, carried 650,000 tons of supplies, lost 590 aircrafts with a total of 1,314 aviation personnel killed in the line of duty. The supply line of the Hump operation was equivalent to China’s lifeline, contributing greatly to their victory in the Sino-Japanese War.