This post is triggered by a couple of (recent) C-46 posts of jankees, and also a post I'd made, here, a while ago about the famous (and historic) "Flying the Hump" operation. In my previous post, to fly to (and above) the (Himalayan) Hump, I'd used the (modern) Cessna CJ4 Bizjet...🙂..., a far cry from the DC-3/C-47/C-46 a/c types that the RW pilots had used for these dangerous missions.

[Re-stating some text from my previous post...]
This is one of the most fascinating events of aviation history...from a time when the legendary DC-3 ruled (air) transport, civil and military. For nearly 3 decades, a more reliable and capable replacement would elude aviation, so, the Pilots remarked, "The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.” Meanwhile, the year 1942 arrived, and suddenly there was a critical need for airlift of supplies from India to China, across the deadly eastern Himalayan Range, leading to the so-called "Flying the Hump" operation. The "Hump", here, implies not the highest point of the passage, but actually the lowest-altitude routes that would take airplanes across these mountains. Humans looked and planned hard, but nature made it impossible to find low-altitude crossings across the Himalayas. The route over the intervening valleys, rivers, and mountain corridors, eventually led to the primary Hump, the "Hengduan Mountains" of China. When the pilots crossed the "Hengduan Mountains", the dauntingly towering peaks looked to them like the humps of camels. It is from this resemblance that the air route came to be known as the "Hump". 

The Hump crossings were first attempted by the venerable (and proven) DC-3s and then C-47s, but these a/c were found inadequate (and needed to be replaced) for these high-altitude (heavy-lift) cargo missions. The altitudes of the "Hump" mountain passes, such as for the "Hengduan Range", lie between 12,000 ft up to 20,000 ft, so parts of the Hump had to be flown at a safe minimum of at least 20,000 ft. The real glory and fame, for "Flying the Hump" operation, would go to the famous Curtiss C-46 Commando, with its cavernous "double-bubble" design (see pictures below) and its superior high-altitude performance (Here, for this flight, I could reach 20,000 ft effortlessly with this C-46). In the RW operations, nearly 3,000 C-46s were deployed to fly the Hump, as the type would be gradually replaced by the "4-engined" DC-4/C-54 towards the end of the operation.

So, here we go, as I travel in my (symbolic) C-46, from Dibrugarh (VEMN), in Assam/India, to directly overhead of the "Hengduan Mountains" in China (Google Earth LAT/LONG co-ordinates (27.563, 99.198) of the Hengduan Mountains, entered into the Flight Plan), for this almost directly eastward route from Dibrugarh, from the flatlands to the high (and fast-rising) Himalayas, over a distance of 225 miles, from Dibrugarh to the Hump (see inset VFR MAP Magenta line in shot #s 2 and 7, below). These mountain passes are singularly desolate, inhospitable, and treacherous...creating one of the most hazardous transport routes that aviation had ever faced to that point. On top of it, the (atmospheric) elements of violent thunderstorms, constant cloud cover, torrential monsoon rains, and unpredictable wind currents, and weather that's said to literally change from mile to mile and minute to minute...had stretched the limits of aircraft and aviation to the extremes...

However, for my flight, here, it's a picturesque trip...🙂...in serene weather...as I start off flying past the (massive) Brahmaputra River (see my shot #s 7-8), and I end with the gentle glow of the twilight beginning to glisten over the mountains and ridges of the Himalayan Hump, and also on the metallic skin of my C-46 Commando...🙂... (see my last shot) ...

Hope you enjoy...! Thanks for viewing...!

Did not flow this on yet, looking interessting this AC..

Very nice shots, thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Superb trip and great shots, P_7878 !!

10 hours ago, P_7878 said:

In the RW operations, nearly 3,000 C-46s were deployed to fly the Hump

Never realized the operation was anywhere near this extensive. Very informative post. And some really nice panel shots.

Very nice shots! 😉 

Wonderful shots of the aircraft. 🙂

On 7/14/2024 at 5:59 AM, pmplayer said:

Did not flow this on yet, looking interesting this AC..

Very nice shots, thanks for showing !

cheers 😉

Thanks, pmplayer. Yes, if you like the DC-3, which is true...🙂... you might also like this one. However, there is no mod of any kind for this a/c nor many liveries I could find, at least, on Xbox...surely, they would come...I find it hard to fly w/o a bit more automation of flight.... Cheers...!

 

On 7/14/2024 at 10:22 AM, bernd1151 said:

Superb trip and great shots, P_7878 !!

Bernd: Appreciated the comment...I recall in my last visit to the Hump, you'd remarked I should find a more realistic a/c to use...🙂...so, I was glad to find and fly this C-46 in the SIM ...

 

On 7/14/2024 at 10:43 AM, John F said:

Never realized the operation was anywhere near this extensive. Very informative post. And some really nice panel shots.

Abundant historical references on-line of this interesting bit of aviation history, John. I'm glad you enjoyed the post and the (cockpit) panel shots ... 

 

On 7/14/2024 at 12:31 PM, Alaska738 said:

Very nice shots! 😉 

Thank you, Will, for the comment...!

 

On 7/14/2024 at 7:28 PM, andiflyit said:

Wonderful shots of the aircraft. 🙂

Yes, it's a nice aircraft sim and the texturing is well-done...just like the DC3...Thanks for chiming into my post ...! Cheers...!

Edited July 20, 20241 yr by P_7878