The China-Burma-India Hump Series: Episode IV
OVER THE 12-MONTH PERIOD that Trevor flew 256 missions in the China-Burma-India Theatre, he transported a large variety of cargo.
Usually it was food, supplies, and personnel.
Occasionally, though, they did have to transport mules, and cleanup was a dirty, smelly job.
They also had to transport Indian rupees and opium bars guarded by the CI, Counter Intelligence officers.
Those peculiar cargo items were used to mollify the Burmese, Naga, Chindit, and Kachin natives of Burma and keep them in the Allied fold.
Trevor's crew also evacuated troops out of China over the Himalayas at least twice.
When Kweilin Field was about to be overrun by the Japanese, U.
S.
troops were evacuated by the Laxative Elite.
At Loiwing Factory, where fighter planes were assembled, U.
S.
civilians and Chinese workers were saved from death by an imminent Japanese incursion when Trevor and his fellow crew members performed another evacuation mission.
Other flights brought K-rations and C-rations to U.
S.
, British, Indian Gurkah, and Chinese troops.
Many other cargo items were transported by the Gooney Birds, including weapons, ammunition, soap, catsup, Canadian whiskey, toilet paper, Chinese paper money, aluminum irrigation pipes, sirohi goats, 55-gallon drums of gasoline, dead soldiers, and badly injured or dying soldiers.
In his later years, Trevor one day revealed, "...
I'll never forget those blood-curdling screams that lasted for a half-hour before the medic gave him enough morphine to reach unconsciousness.
" He was referring to a pilot who had been downed near Myitkyina.
The pilot had been badly burned in the crash, and they were evacuating him to a hospital at Sylhet.
Trevor said he didn't want to talk about it as he stared out the window, eyes fixed upon Kamiak Butte, but he finally confided, "His whole body was burned.
The clothes were burned to his skin.
He had no lips...
his ears were burned off...
he had no eyelids...
He died before we got to the hospital.
We were all sick...
We were white with shock.
" Some of the less traumatic but exciting events of high altitude night flying were occurrences of St.
Elmo's fire, whereby electrically charged clouds sometimes discharged onto the craft, and balls of fire danced along the wings.
At those times, the propellers looked like whirling discs of fire.
It was apparently quite a light show.
The crew could feel the static electricity on the controls.
Trevor said it seemed harmless, but his squadron members thought it could become hazardous when they were flying fuel cargo, and of course they always had their own fuel tanks.
He said they attached several small cords to the trailing edge of the wings.
The cords were drenched in oil, and that helped to alleviate the fireworks.
Usually it was food, supplies, and personnel.
Occasionally, though, they did have to transport mules, and cleanup was a dirty, smelly job.
They also had to transport Indian rupees and opium bars guarded by the CI, Counter Intelligence officers.
Those peculiar cargo items were used to mollify the Burmese, Naga, Chindit, and Kachin natives of Burma and keep them in the Allied fold.
Trevor's crew also evacuated troops out of China over the Himalayas at least twice.
When Kweilin Field was about to be overrun by the Japanese, U.
S.
troops were evacuated by the Laxative Elite.
At Loiwing Factory, where fighter planes were assembled, U.
S.
civilians and Chinese workers were saved from death by an imminent Japanese incursion when Trevor and his fellow crew members performed another evacuation mission.
Other flights brought K-rations and C-rations to U.
S.
, British, Indian Gurkah, and Chinese troops.
Many other cargo items were transported by the Gooney Birds, including weapons, ammunition, soap, catsup, Canadian whiskey, toilet paper, Chinese paper money, aluminum irrigation pipes, sirohi goats, 55-gallon drums of gasoline, dead soldiers, and badly injured or dying soldiers.
In his later years, Trevor one day revealed, "...
I'll never forget those blood-curdling screams that lasted for a half-hour before the medic gave him enough morphine to reach unconsciousness.
" He was referring to a pilot who had been downed near Myitkyina.
The pilot had been badly burned in the crash, and they were evacuating him to a hospital at Sylhet.
Trevor said he didn't want to talk about it as he stared out the window, eyes fixed upon Kamiak Butte, but he finally confided, "His whole body was burned.
The clothes were burned to his skin.
He had no lips...
his ears were burned off...
he had no eyelids...
He died before we got to the hospital.
We were all sick...
We were white with shock.
" Some of the less traumatic but exciting events of high altitude night flying were occurrences of St.
Elmo's fire, whereby electrically charged clouds sometimes discharged onto the craft, and balls of fire danced along the wings.
At those times, the propellers looked like whirling discs of fire.
It was apparently quite a light show.
The crew could feel the static electricity on the controls.
Trevor said it seemed harmless, but his squadron members thought it could become hazardous when they were flying fuel cargo, and of course they always had their own fuel tanks.
He said they attached several small cords to the trailing edge of the wings.
The cords were drenched in oil, and that helped to alleviate the fireworks.