Skies Of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over The Roof Of The World, Alexander - B+

                   Approximately 1700 airmen of the US Army Air Corps died in 600 crashes attempting to supply China by flying over the Hump.  This is their story.

                   Fearing a Japanese blockade, China began to build a road south from Yunnan province to Burma. "Threading a torturous course across mountains, jungle, and plunging gorges, an ancient mule track ran between Yunnan and Upper Burma." The Japanese closed the Burma Road in the spring of 1942. FDR committed to an "aerial" road to "keep China in the war." The so called Ferry Command was established with bases in western India and southern China. The Himalayas were in between the two. The route taken was to fly east to Burma before turning north. They did not attempt to fly over the highest mountains but, at 20,000 feet, just below them. Nonetheless, impossible weather that the planes were ill equipped to handle dominated the challenges the pilots faced. The cold dry air from the north met warm monsoon winds from the south and led to violent drafts that could toss planes up and down 4,000 feet per minute. The deadly crashes began, as did airmen parachuting into the jungle. As the war progressed, the Americans and the British coordinated their search and rescue efforts along the route between India and Burma. Late 1943 saw the beginning of Japanese fighter planes attacking the operation, leading to the initiation of night flights for the first time in the CBI theater. That same season, the Army medical staff concluded that the pilots suffered from 'Humpitis' because the weather was the scariest imaginable and it broke many men. Nineteen forty-four saw some real dismay on the part of the Allies who concluded that supplying the Nationalists was unproductive, but at FDR's insistence a ground effort was made to open the road was as a continuation of the flights over the Hump. A Japanese offensive in China put an end to any American hope that the mainland could be used as a base to bomb Japan. 

                  Whether the effort put into the airlift was worthwhile has been debated ever since. Some believe that the Chinese tied down the enemy and kept some quality soldiers away from the Pacific.  Others suggest it prepped our airlift skills. Many think it was a fools errand. This excellent book has been quite enlightening. Unlike Tuchman's history of Stillwell in China, this author is very critical of 'Vinegar Joe.'  She takes his acerbic style and distaste for allies to task. On the other hand, she also eviscerates the gross incompetence, if not corrupt cowardice, of Chiang. The author mentions Chiang's conversion to Christianity, something I suspect I knew but had forgotten, as part of the obsessional devotion of Henry Luce and the old China lobby. As so many of them, including Luce, were the children of missionaries, it goes some way in explaining their irrational enthusiasm. Lastly, she points out that Sara Delano, FDR's influential mother, grew up in China as part of the reason for his belief in helping the Nationalists