1941-1950
12/07/1941
TORA, TORA, TORA!
In December 1941, Would War II, has become a bloodshed in Europe and tension between the United States and Japan was increasing every day. In spite of this, air surveillance around Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii – with the Pacific US naval force, was incredibly relaxed on that Sunday 7. At the attack command “Tora, tora, tora” tens of Japanese fighters, torpedo bombers and bombers launched from aircraft carriers attacked American military airdromes and warships stationed in the port, practically without facing resistance. The attack left over 2,300 dead and almost destroyed fleet, except for two aircraft carriers that were in mission in the sea. The “day that will live in infamy” gave President Franklin Roosevelt the popular support he needed to declare war to the Axis countries, thus changing conflict force correlation in favor of the Allies.
04/1942
JUMPING OVER THE HIMALAYA
As soon as the US entered the World War II, China approved a joint declaration of the Allies against the Axis. The Sino-Japanese war (that began in 1937) united to the world conflict and the Chinese began to receive support from Americans and British. A challenge was to deliver weapons and supplies to the Chinese army and to the “Flying Tigers”, the group of US volunteer pilots that supported the Chinese since 1941. The situation became critical in April 1942, when the Japanese closed the Burma road that allowed ground transport from India. The solution was setting an air shuttle between Dinjan, northeast India and the Chinese territory. Known as “The Hump”, the dangerous route had to overcome the Himalaya mountain range, without navigation supports and facing bad weather in the mountains. In this mission became renowned the courageous American cargo aircraft Curtiss C-46 Commando, more powerful and capable to fly higher than the C-47/DC-3. The air shuttle operated until the end of the war in 1945.
