India honours US airmen downed in WWII China airlift

PASIGHAT, India: India paid tribute on Wednesday to the hundreds of US servicemen killed during World War II with the opening of a museum near its strategic border with China honouring the dramatic Himalayan airlift dubbed “The Hump”.

Telling the story of how Allied pilots flew the perilous route to supply Chinese forces, it includes 80-year-old rusting wreckage and machine guns of some of the 590 planes that crashed into the jungle hills and jagged mountains of India´s northeast Arunachal Pradesh state.

Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu said it showcased “the remnants of aircrafts that went missing”, as he inaugurated “The Hump WWII Museum” alongside US ambassador Eric Garcetti in the town of Pasighat.