Somewhere We Will Find You: Search and Rescue Operations in the CBI, 1942-1945

Merriam Press Military Monograph 115. Second Edition (August 2012). In the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations, 1942-1945, during the war with Japan, search and rescue activities in most instances focused upon flight crews who were lost while transporting military cargo from India to China. The objective of such efforts was the location and recovery of personnel who had gone down in Western China, North Burma, or in the state of Assam, India. The creation of the airlift between India and China in 1942 was forced upon the Allies by the loss of Burma and the imperative need to continue supplying China to keep its forces engaged with the Japanese. The air ferry service commenced in April 1942, and continued until 1945. Early on the commanders recognized the hazards of flying over the mountains and jungles of India and Burma, and the importance of rescuing pilots and crewmen downed while traveling over the “Hump,” the range of 15,000-foot mountains between the Salween and Mekong. Initially search and rescue operations were of a haphazard nature utilizing available aircrews and aircraft. However, following the “mass jump” of twenty-one passengers and crewmen on the border between Burma and India on 3 August 1943, the location and return of “lost” personnel was given highest priority. This work offers a clear picture of the combined efforts that were made to bring back pilots and aircrews who, because of pilot error, equipment failure, weather or enemy action, found themselves stranded in the inhospitable terrain stretching across North Burma between China and India. End notes, bibliography, index, 92 photos, 2 maps.