Hailakandi Airfield
Encyclopedia
Hailakandi Airfield is a former wartime United States Army Air Forces
airfield in India
used during the Burma Campaign 1944-1945
. It is now abandoned.Hailakandi is a district of the Indian state of Assam.
, being formed at the base in March 1944. The unit was a United States Army Air Forces group of fighters, bombers, transports, military gliders and small planes operating in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. They were part of the U.S. Tenth Air Force providing close air support for the British Fourteenth Army in the Burma Campaign.
The Air Commando Groups was born out of a simple need. That need was to support via light airplanes the evacuation and resupply requirements of British Long Range Patrol (LRP) groups, or Chindits, as they were affectionately called. Carrying the lethal firepower of both bombers and fighters combined with the logistical tentacles of a gamut of transports, gliders, and light aircraft, this organization would reach deep behind enemy lines to do battle.
Once formed, the unit moved Asansol Airfield, India on 20 May 1944 and the airfield was used for non-combat operations for the remainder of the war.
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
airfield in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
used during the Burma Campaign 1944-1945
Burma Campaign 1944-1945
The Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was fought primarily between British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces against the forces of the Empire of Japan, who were assisted to some degree by Thailand, the Burmese Independence Army and the Indian National Army...
. It is now abandoned.Hailakandi is a district of the Indian state of Assam.
History
The airfield was the home of the 1st Air Commando Group1st Air Commando Group
The 1st Air Commando Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Army Service Forces, based at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. It was inactivated on 3 November 1945....
, being formed at the base in March 1944. The unit was a United States Army Air Forces group of fighters, bombers, transports, military gliders and small planes operating in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. They were part of the U.S. Tenth Air Force providing close air support for the British Fourteenth Army in the Burma Campaign.
The Air Commando Groups was born out of a simple need. That need was to support via light airplanes the evacuation and resupply requirements of British Long Range Patrol (LRP) groups, or Chindits, as they were affectionately called. Carrying the lethal firepower of both bombers and fighters combined with the logistical tentacles of a gamut of transports, gliders, and light aircraft, this organization would reach deep behind enemy lines to do battle.
Once formed, the unit moved Asansol Airfield, India on 20 May 1944 and the airfield was used for non-combat operations for the remainder of the war.