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During World War II, the Allies lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of operations. The losses were incurred by the US Army Air Corp (forerunner of the US Air Force), the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and to a lesser degree the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) and the Chinese Air Force (CAF). Although hostile fire from Japanese forces accounted for many Allied aircraft losses in the CBI theater, the majority of Allied crashes were caused by inhospitable weather, mechanical failure, or navigational error.
The Aluminum Trail published in 1989 by Chick Marrs Quinn, lists over 700 US aircraft lost in the CBI theater. The personnel losses were far in excess of this number, as most aircraft had multiple crewmembers and were often transporting passengers. The US Dept. of Defense stated in 2004 that more than 500 US aircraft and 1200 crewmembers were still missing in the CBI theater from WW II, with nearly 416 Americans remaining missing in India alone. Nowhere in the CBI theater were the aircraft losses higher than on the notorious "Hump" route between US airbases in northeast India and airfields in Yunnan province of China. Many of these aircraft were never found, and their crew and passengers have been declared "Administratively Dead" or MIA.
I have taken on the project of searching for as many of these MIA aircraft as I can find. Generally speaking, each wreck site has unrecovered remains of the aircrew and any passengers who may have been aboard during its ill-fated last flight. A detailed report with GPS coordinates and photo documentation has been prepared for each crash site I have found. I send my reports to the Joint POW / MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) of the US Dept. of Defense. JPAC will hopefully mount an investigative mission to each site to recover any US remains that can be found there. Reports on crash sites involving British or Canadian aircraft are forwarded to the appropriate personnel in those countries.
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