The Hot as Hell crew poses with their
B-24 Liberator bomber. Below, Irwin “Zipper”
1
Zaetz subbed for the plane’s regular navigator.
1ST LT. IRWIN “ZIPPER” ZAETZ
wasn’t supposed to fl y that day. But
A direct fl ight
the regular navigator for the B-24J to Kunming took
known as Hot as Hell couldn’t make
an average of four
hours at an altitude
the mission, so Zaetz, a strapping,
of 16,000 feet, but
crews typically
26-year-old veteran fl ier from Ver-
took a dogleg to the
mont, agreed to take his place.
north to avoid Japa-
nese fi ghters. This
stretched fuel re-
The date was Jan. 25, 1944. The Their crews offi cially were declared serves to the limit and sometimes re-
mission: a simple resupply run dead 10 months later. quired a climb to 20,000 feet to clear
over the Himalayas from Kunming, Hot as Hell and Haley’s Comet the cloud-covered precipices.
China, to Chabua, India. Of course, were far from the only Allied planes It was a dangerous but important
when fl ying over some of the high- to go down over the Hump. Accord- mission, because the almost-daily
est, most treacherous peaks in the ing to the Joint POW/MIA Account- fl ights were an essential part of the
world, nothing is simple. That’s why ing Command (JPAC), an estimated Allied effort to keep China in the
the airmen who routinely made the 415 planes — and more than 1,360 fi ght against Japan. Each bombing
run called it “fl ying the Hump.” If crew members — were lost in the mission against the enemy required
you could conquer the Hump, you China-Burma-India theater over the several supply ferries, so combat
could conquer anything. course of World War II. cargo crews fl ew no matter what. Ac-
Hot as Hell never made it to The heavily loaded planes, cording to Air Transport Command
Chabua, one of fi ve B-24s to experi- which included B-24s, C-47s, and (ATC) veterans, it naturally was as-
ence trouble that day. Three of the C-109s, took off from airfi elds in sumed that if you could see the end
planes crashed en route, and their India’s eastern jungles, where tor- of the runway through the rain and
survivors were rescued shortly rential rains were frequent and mist, your fl ight was a go. At night,
after, but Hot as Hell and a sister long-lasting, and fl ew over the ATC crews sent a Jeep down the
plane, Haley’s Comet, simply van- mountains in the face of bitter cold runway ahead of the planes to clear
ished into the foggy shroud that and dense fog that often made vis- it of farm animals, nocturnal critters,
covers the towering Himalayas. ibility a challenge. and curious indigenous personnel.
96 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2009 PHOTOS: COURTESY LARRY ZAETZ; PREVIOUS SPREAD, NATIONAL ARCHIVES
SSept_hump.indd
96ept_hump.indd 96 88/4/09 8:54 PM/4/09 8:54 PM
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