Hump Pilot - Softcover

Nedda R. Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940773202 ISBN 13: 9781940773209

Publisher: History Publishing Company, 2014

Synopsis

Based on the true life exploits of a World War II pilot flying the dangerous route over the Himalayas, the book brings to light a little known facet of World War II. Flying the Hump, was the name given by American pilots to flying over the treacherous air currents of the Himalaya Mountains during World War II. It was an extremely dangerous but necessary route American pilots traveled to bring vital material to Chinese troops in China and American and other Allied forces in the Pacific. The materiel transported, critical to the Allied war effort in the early days enabled them to persist while the industrial might of the United States was retooling.

About this title

From the Author

Exceptionally well written, organized, documented, and presented, "Hump Pilot" will prove a valued and seminal addition to personal, academic, and community World War II Military History collections and studies.  Impressively comprehensive, "Hump Pilot" is as engaging a read throughout as it is informed and informative.  A first-class military aviation history!Midwest Book Review

Review

"Thomas' emotional restraint ensures a realistic story.  She crafts a classic example of how courage is not the absence of fear - but its conquest.  The author persuades not by shouting out a propaganda poster but by subtly sketching her subject's virtues - and also harnessing the power of jarring contrast.  Hard data proves her motivating contention that the effort far surpassed what the odds predicted.  The key factor was the derring-do of flying a route deceptively labeled the Hump, but that pilots in moods of morbid candor called the Skyway to Hell."      Asia Sentinel

"Pilots had no choice but to navigate turbulent weather over the highest mountains in the world in primitive, often overloaded aircraft such as the C-46, nicknamed the 'Flying Coffin.'  But steely Hump pilots like Ned braved these conditions with determination.  In Ned's own words, 'If we'd had to wait for a pretty day, we'd still be there.' "  Parade Magazine 

"Hump Pilot provides an entertaining window into what it was like to fly cargo over the world's most dangerous air route, in the worst flying conditions imaginable.  Nedda Thomas has produced a spirited account."  Aviation History Magazine

"This is the war nobody told you about.  These are the Americans who confronted peril every time they climbed into a plane.  Far from home, in an alien and hostile setting, these men risked it all.  Ned Thomas knows.  Not an armchair historian, Thomas is a veteran who lived the dangers of the Himalaya and survived.  Thomas' story will grab you and keep you riveted page after page.  By telling this story in readable language that anyone can appreciate, Nedda Thomas conveys how dangerous it was.  You don't have to be a military veteran or an aviation buff to love this fantastic, true account."  Robert F. Dorr, author Mission to Tokyo

Edition details

• Publisher: History Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1940773202
• ISBN 13: 9781940773209
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320