History
Wujiaba is among the oldest airports in China, with a history that can be traced back over 100 years to the early 20th century, when Wujiaba Airport was first built under the supervision of local warlord, General Tang Jiyao.
During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), which began before World War II, the airport was expanded. It was a base for operations of the legendary "Flying Tigers", the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG), of the Chinese Air Force, led by Claire Lee Chennault before the United States entered the war. After the US entered the war in December 1941, and starting in 1942, Wujiaba Airport was the headquarters of numerous United States Army Air Forces units, including the Fourteenth Air Force and later the Tenth Air Force.
The USAAF Air Transport Command (ATC) established a major air transport facility at the airport, which connected flights west to Chabua Airfield, India, with other routes within China Jiangbei Airport (Chunking); Chenstu Air Base, and Banmaw Airport (Bhamo, Burma). After the war ended in 1945, a 1,390 mile (2,224 kilometer) route east to Clark Air Base in the Philippines was established. The route to Clark AB established a complete worldwide transport route for ATC
The Flying Tigers Association visited in October 1982 and again in September 2005. and took photos.
Read more about this topic: Kunming Wujiaba International Airport
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)