 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest feat. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific war. Here, as another public service, is the tale of the war in the Pacific and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. Air transportation. Lifeline of China. Now we're running into black weather. Yeah. Starting days are pretty bad. Uh-huh. We'll try and fly through it and get on top. Altitude's 14,000. This is the aerial Burma Road, the airline over the hump. The Himalayas from Calcutta to China. This pilot and co-pilot are bringing in a cargo of heavy machine parts. Is the windshield the ice are working? Yes, it's working. The air of ice is forming across the glass. Yeah. Props are picking it up, too. That was a mass of ice thrown by the propellers against the cabin. As the transport climbs, the temperature drops. The heating system's gone out. Temperature is dirty below. Perfect, blind flying. Ice is completely closed over the windshield. Radio compass is dead. This may be another inch. We're at 20,800. Uh-huh. Pump up the window of the ice spray and see if you can get some of the alcohol to wake out around the valve. There's some coming out now. That's good. Catch it on your fingers and rub it on the inside of the windows. Maybe we can get a glimpse out. Oh, man, is that cool. Yeah, evaporates too fast, eh? Yeah. Here, I'll press my bare hand against the window. Maybe that'll clear a little space. Careful. Watch out, your hand doesn't stick there. Oh, man, is that cold. Falling a little under my hand. All right, quick now. Look when I take my hand away. Okay. See anything? Well, top of the engine. Much ice on it. Ah, it's pretty thick on the leading edge of the calling. Yeah. Hell, temperature's gone up to zero. Yeah, I thought it was getting a little warmer. Here, take this nail file and scrape some of the frost away. Over the hump yet? No, not quite. Get just a little more off. There. You see anything? Yeah. Yeah, there are the peaks. 25,000 feet high. Let me see. Okay. Yeah, go ahead. Boy, these are some mountains. These Himalayas? Yeah. Can you see the peaks? Some of them, but most of them stick right up into the clouds. We better bear over a little of that. You want to go over and play tag with those jet patrols? We're booking a 130 mile an hour wind. That means we're making about 50 miles an hour. And we're just coming up to the peak of the hump. Captain, message for you. Yes, what is it, Lo? The warning station's just radioed that there are three jet pursuit ships in this area. Uh-oh. Three jet pursuit ships up here, eh? Okay, thanks, Lo. Oh, what a bump. Always very bumpy near the peak. What was that noise? Lo, go on back in the cabin and see what happened. Yeah. Hey, look at that captain. Clear that peak. Pull back on the boat back. Oh, thank you, man. Ha, ha. That's made it with about two feet to spare. Captain, the cargo on that's broken. We hit that bump and our cargo hit the ceiling and punched about 10 big holes. 10 holes? Yeah, and then it crashed down on the floor and wrecked the floorboards and damaged the fuselage pretty bad. You better go back there with the radio, man. We'll see what you can do. Yeah, let's get out that quick. Coming down from the hump was just a breeze, wasn't it? Yeah, and here, this old buggy landed pretty hot. Must have a lot more rice on the outside than we thought. Yeah. Man, we just have to stay inside here until they break the ice around the door. All right. This is like stepping out a refrigerator. How hot is it out there? It's 95 in the sun. Yikes. We've been waiting for this cargo machine part. Come on, man. Let's get it unloaded. We'll have to patch up those holes and install a new cargo net before we take our next load back over the hump to Calcutta. Burial Burma Road is ferrying supplies over the hump of the Himalayas in quantities greater than ever before. Today, air transport is playing a role of enormous importance in tying China together, in helping China fight the enemy. Many Chinese who have never seen a train have seen airplanes. Yet, China has only had air transport a little more than 15 years. See, there it is. Yes. It flies high. Where does it fly from? It flies from Shanghai through the skies to Nanking. It seems almost to stand still in the air. It goes very fast. Hear it roar. Yes. It flies right over our house. It is wonderful. This was 1929. This was the China Airways Federal Incorporated. In 1933, an American company, Tan American, in collaboration with the Nationalist Government, took over the first airline and formed the China National Aviation Corporation. CNAC, it was to be called, and its name was to be written in the dramatic annals of the advance of mankind. But in Shanghai, foreigners looked on with doubt. Oh, I see. Isn't it absurd? Chinese trying to fly before they can even crawl. Well, I don't know. It's a great step in the right direction. But the Chinese aren't ready for it. The Chinese hold the majority of the shares in the company. But what about the actual management? There's a Chinese managing director, and he really does the managing. But actually Westerners will have to run it. Oh, no. Americans will train the Chinese as pilots and technicians, but it is actually going to be a joint effort. How many ships does this CNAC have? Well, they've got half a dozen Stimpsons and loanings for a starter, and they'll be getting more as the line grows. Transports were winging over the Chinese countryside. And on the ground, Chinese personnel were being trained by the Americans. And Chinese workers were building airports. You see, it will extend from that marker over there, clear down to that line over there. This is a foreman. This airport will be big enough for planes even bigger than the ones we have now. Someday you'll need this space. We call this airport here at Nanking the Purple Cloud Airport. A wedding name? Yes. And the one at Canton we call White Cloud. And there is one we call Beautiful Garden. Beautiful Garden. And what is that name? You have a name for the China National Aviation Corporation? Oh, yes. We call it the Middle Kingdom Space Machine Family. And to us, that is just what it is. The Middle Kingdom Space Machine Family was spreading out over China, tying together the important cities, giving the Chinese in the distant places the feeling that they were part of something larger than their farms and their villages. That they and other Chinese were all part of a great nation. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek quickly saw the value of aviation as a unifying force as early as 1934. You see, General Chiang, the reason that no high official has ever been able to govern China properly is that no official is ever known where reforms are needed. This was one of Chiang Kai-shek's advisors. The chiefs of local regions have always been afraid to report truthfully, and no ruler has ever taken the trouble to investigate for himself. Generalissimo Chiang saw the wisdom of this, and with Madame Chiang and a party of officials flew to Xi'an. For two days, the party saw the sights of Xi'an. Then, Generalissimo and Madame Chiang invited the foreign missionaries of the city in for copy and conversation. In all the years I've been in China, this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me. The generalissimo knew that you missionaries could tell the truth without fear, which is something that the local officials could not, and you told it. Well, I was a little hesitant to talk at first. You told what needed to be told, you and the other missionaries. It's inspiring to think that the leaders of China would come way up here to Xi'an to ask for the truth. The generalissimo is determined to know what is wrong with the many parts of China, and to get the ideas of the people who live there on what should be done to correct these wrongs. For years, we've written letters and begged for a chance to tell this to even the smallest officials. And now here, the generalissimo himself comes and asks for this information. In my most optimistic moment... Generalissimo and their party have flown to Lanzhao out of the edge of the Settle-Lanzhao to that wild region of the northwest while the generalissimo might be assassinated any minute out there. We've flown north across the Great Wasteland to the border town of Ningziya. At this point, the generalissimo... Ningziya, what folly! The generalissimo is in danger of his life every minute he's in that country. Inviting disaster! It's dangerous! Within a month, generalissimo Zhang had made the most important tour of his life. Learn things about the problems of China that no other ruler had ever known. You should not have permitted the generalissimo to go out among the people in those wild regions. For the contrary, in the first place, the generalissimo found out that he did not be guarded like a precious jewel. Besides, Madame Zhang was able to get close to the people to talk against the old ways of China and to re-urge reform. And equally important, the people of China's faraway and frontiers had a glimpse of their ruler. For the first time, people all over the country in the north, the south, the east, and the west are thinking of one man as their leader and of their land as one country. A unified China. From this time on, Zhang Kai-chek, with the aid of air transportation, re-wobbed the provinces of China into a national fabric. From this time on, again and again, by air transport, Zhang kept in contact with his lieutenants and on occasion himself flew to the centers where his presence was needed. With the help of air transportation, Zhang inspired and directed the people of China. Now, air transportation in China was growing. The NAC planes were landing at Beiping, Haichao, Singtao, Yentian. Now they were voyaging southward to Wenchao, Fuchao, Amoy, Swatao, Gantong, and Hong Kong, and westward to Zhongqing. This is a momentous event, opening this route to Zhongqing. Yes, it is. It takes us all way well into the heart of China. Matter of fact, it's the first time we've seen a lot of China. Matter of fact, that's Yichang down below us there. How different it looks from the air. Yes, doesn't it? That is the gateway to the Yangtze Gorge down there. I had a good look at that gorge when we were laying out this route. Those waters are dangerous. I can well imagine. When I was a boy, the trip up through that gorge was made by houseboat. My father and mother and my brothers and sisters went up through there in our houseboat. We were towed through those swirling waters by coolies. I remember how I watched them struggling along the sides of the gorge. I still don't understand how they hung on. How long did it take to make the trip? Six weeks. Then steamboats were put in. At nightfall they anchored in some safe place. They made the trip through the gorge in a few days. We thought that marvelous. It was a great advance. Yes. And now how long will it take to fly from Hangkau to Chumking? Oh, four hours? Four hours. Air transport is bringing the provinces within a few hours of our port cities. CNAC was well established by 1937 when the Japanese struck at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beping. Hooray! At Shanghai a CNAC transport came streaking in, landed, and its pilot, Captain Hal Sweet, reported I was caught in Beping after the city gates were closed. I hid under some sacks of mail on a truck with the Japs sentries permitted to pass. At the airport I came out and jumped into the ship that I brought in there and headed here for Shanghai. That was the first event. Now it was started. And every last man at CNAC knew that the Japs would concentrate on destroying the CNAC. It ships and airports. Steamboats! The Japs are moving into Shanghai. We'll have to clear out. Come on, let's get going and move everything to Hangkao. Here come the Japs bombers. The CNAC played a perilous game of hide and seek with the oncoming Japanese. As the Japanese drove westward, the CNAC moved its operations westward before them. We've got to clear out of Hangkao. The Japs will be bombing this airport tonight and the infantry will be moving in tomorrow. We're pulling out for Trun King. As the Japanese drove inland, CNAC kept contact with the outside world by opening new routes. CNAC became a living, moving organism, moving to different airports, setting up new contact points of communication and navigation. In 1940, the Vichy French government permitted the Japanese to move into Indochina, and CNAC had to abandon the base at Hanoi. Now CNAC reached down through Burma and established the base at Rangoon, opened a route over the hump of the Himalayas from Chongqing to Calcutta, and established a route over the 778 miles of mountains from Chongqing to Hong Kong. It was at Hong Kong on December 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, 1941, that CNAC did the impossible. That's that. I guess they're gone for a while. Yeah, I hope so. Look at that wreckage. Certainly gave us the works all right. Bombs, bullets. Yeah, those dive bombers and strappers were the ones that did most of the damage. Well, come on, let's have a look at things. OK. Mr. Wharton. Eight of the 13 planes here are wrecked. Eight wrecked, huh? They certainly caught us this time. Yes, sir. But the five and the hangers are all right. Are they not damaged? No, they're all right. This winds up Hong Kong. Yeah. We've got to get out. We've got to evacuate the women and children here before the Japs close in. Yeah, but the skies around here are full of Japs fighters. That I know. We'll fly at night blacked out. Give the order to all the pilots to stand by for relief. OK. We'll have to use them in ships. But we'll keep the five planes shuttling out until the Japs are here. Brother, I hope it clouds up tonight. CNAC operations headquarters, taking off of the last load of refugees out of Hong Kong. With the ones I've got on board, we've evacuated 275 adults and more than 100 children in these three days. If I make it, the Japs are shelling the field. This is the last plane out. The Japanese swarmed over Hong Kong. The CNAC retreated before their onslaught, continued flying, carrying their precious cargoes of war supplies, medicines, refugees, government and military personnel. Unarmed, their only protection was bad weather and darkness. They flew at night and in peace soup weather that grounded the Japanese patrols. The Japanese drove into Burma, but the CNAC planes continued to fly. They slivered in and out of jungle hemmed fields, making four and five clips between dusk and dawn, hiding at the jungle camouflage in the daytime, roaring through the clouds and dark at night. Well, Moon Chin, you probably know more about China's geography than any living Chinese. Well, I have been grinding through the air over it for a long time. At least ten years with us. Something like that. Moon, the Japs have overrun Mandalay. They're driving still-willed men back into India. The radio is burning. Yes, I have heard. Our last holding base in Burma is Mishnah. That airport we and the RAF and the U.S. Air Transport Command are evacuating as many of the refugees we can carry. You want me to fly over to Mishnah and help out? More than that, Moon. I want you to fly over there and recover our radio station and also bring out as much of our personnel as you can carry and fly them to India. Moon Chin took off from China with a cargo of passengers. Halfway down from Chongqing, his radio warned him of the presence of Japanese patrols. He landed in an isolated field, covered his plane with mud and brush, and waited for the all-clear signal. Then he took off again. Did you notice that short, squatty man with the dirty face and the stubbly beard that got on just before we took off? The one with the battered U.S. Army officers kept? Yes, the one with the torn pants and the old leather flying jacket. Yes, I saw him. There is something funny about that man. Yes, I was wondering about that rolled-up flying suit he had under his arm. I wasn't thinking of that. When he got in, I noticed the name Major James A. Doolittle across the breast of his jacket. Jimmy Doolittle? What's he doing over here in China? That I cannot figure out. Captain Moon Chin, here's a message from one of the passengers. Take over Wang. Yes, sir. Listen to this. According to my calculations, you are heading for Mishna in Burma instead of burying northwest to India. In Junqing this morning, the American ambassador told me that the Japs were certain to be in Mishna before nightfall. Signed Doolittle. It is Doolittle. Yes, it is Doolittle. What's he doing in China? Fall. Yes, sir. Tell Major Doolittle that CNAC would not direct me to Mishna if the Japs control the field and that he will have to rely on my judgment. Yes, sir. Captain Moon Chin flew through the gaps in the hills and just over the treetops and sneaked his transport into the field at Mishna. The Japanese were just over the hill. 55,000 terror-stricken refugees crowded the airport, all hoping to get on one of the three transport planes there, the last three, and their last hope. An attendant stood in the doorway of the plane holding the crowd off with a Tommy gun. Captain Moon. Coolies are loading the radio equipment into your forward mail compartment. You better get out as quickly as you can. We've set the gasoline storage tanks on fire and very soon the Japs are going to be coming over that hill. Yes, sir. As soon as our passengers get aboard. Major Doolittle occupied one of the 21 seats of the airliner. Soon the 21 seats were filled. Then there were 30 in the cabin. When the 50th passenger came aboard... Captain Moon, I certainly hope you know what you're doing. Every one we get aboard means one more life saved. There's a war going on over here. You do a lot of those things you wouldn't do at home when you have to. When the 64th passenger came aboard, Captain Moon ordered the cabin door locked. Darkness was falling and the heavily laden ship was still awaited against the blazing storage tanks as it taxied through the surging refugees down to the end of the runway. Those Japanese are closing in, Captain Moon. Yes, hang on. Now let's see if we can get off the ground. I've been holding my breath. Now all we have to do is get her over the mountains into India. Captain Moon nursed the heavily laden transport through the skies with Major Doolittle jam-packed with the others inside. Four hours and 12 minutes later they landed at Calcutta and out of the rear mail compartment which loads from the outside tumbled eight additional passengers. Good Lord, how did they get in there, Captain Moon? Well, they must have smuggled themselves into their compartment after the cabin door was locked. That means that you carried 72 in a 21 passenger Douglas. Yes, I suppose it does. In the spring of 1942, all of Burma's airfields were held by the Japanese. The Burma road had been closed. China's last lifeline was the air route over the hump of the Himalayas. Over this route, the CNAC and the United States Army Air Force carried cargoes of gasoline, munitions, oil, arms, medical supplies into besieged China. And from Chongqing came the report of Generalissimo Chung's words. Give me 100 transport planes and the Japanese can have the Burma road. Then from the United States came newer, bigger transport, airliners with four motors instead of two, and with nearly double the gross weight. Thirty-five of these big four motor jobs can transport 30,000 tons of supplies a month. That's as much as was carried by 7,700 trucks during one of the last months as the Burma road was open. The planes are flown around the clock. Every plane flying, loading, or unloading every minute of the 24 hours. The planes are checked over while cargo is going aboard and coming off. Once a month, they are taken out of service long enough for a complete overhaul. And every minute of the 24 hours when the Japanese could fly, they have stopped to destroy the lines. You all ready to take off, Captain Yancy? Oh, yes, sir. I'm just finishing loading it. I wanted to talk with you before you took off. It's being your first trip over the hump, Captain. Yes, sir. You know, CNAC is probably the only airline in the world that likes bad weather and darkness. Yes, sir, I know. We avoid sunshine as we avoid a firing squad. Getting caught out in the clear by Jap fighters is just about the same as facing a firing squad. The thing is to get back. One of our transports came hightailing it in here with 3,247 buttoff holes in a weak boundary. Yes. The Japanese caught her on the ground and strafed her. Captain Sharp, Captain Sweet, paced little cloth patches over the holes and covered them with dope. But the ship got caught in a rainstorm on the way here and all the patches got washed off. With the wind whistling through those holes, she came screaming and howling like a bandage. Anyway, the point is the pilots brought her back. Yes, sir. But you are constantly in touch with the ship, so that's a great help. Yes, we are. We keep contacting secret codes that are changed every 24 hours. We've carried into China and out of China almost every important man who's come to this country since the war broke out. Junkai Shek, Stillwell, Chennault, Brett, Wavell, Alexander, all of them. Well, sir, I've been over the roots so it isn't exactly strange to me. Yes, I know. But the Japs will try to force you to fly northward up where the mountains rise higher and higher as among those peaks. Oh, yes, what is it? Captain Schrader is in trouble. He's radioing. Turn on your set. Oh, yes, yes. Where is he, you know? I heard him say he's just at the crest of the hump and there's a Japs zero on his tail. Oh, that's bad. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. This is Pickens in operation. The two Beijing off Pickens, how do you later? Sounds like he's in it. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. I'm twisting and dodging and spinning, I hope he can make it. I'm trying to shake him, but he's coming in on me. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. Captain Schrader. Gee, I just saw him here the day before yesterday. Captain Yankee. Oh, yes, yes, sir. Your ship is ready. Cargo all aboard and ready for take-off. Yes, sir. Be right there. Yeah. Okay. Well, Mr. Pickens, I'd better get splitting. Yeah. Good luck to you, Captain Yankee. Thank you, sir. I'll be seeing you. You have been listening to the Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations of the public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross-currents of life in the Pacific Basin. A reprint of this Pacific Story program is available at the cost of ten cents. Send ten cents in stamps or coins to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. We repeat. Send ten cents in stamps or coins to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your narrator, Gane Whitman. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.