2nd Mar 2020, 14:35 - Wikipost
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Here is a read only link to the Aerodrome Database - WhichAerodrome.xlsx. Up to date as of 1/5/2019. Catching up slowly - up to May 2019 now (Mar 2020).
Here are some "rules" for Which Aerodrome. These are based upon the original suggestions from the very first thread, and have a few additions. Also please be patient as when you are active others may be asleep.
 Thanks to Self Loading Bear for suggesting that we use a wiki. Which Aerodrome I Which Aerodrome II nvubu. 
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Which Aerodrome Mk III
Morning all!
No, not Kallang or East Malaysia, but I can see why you say that recalling approaches to Changi from the north over similar looking coastal Malaysia & the waterway of the Johor Strait.
Sycamore - very good, in fact, excellent, but I have a slight issue with "P-75". Other than that, you're still well on the road to a successful I/D.
A couple more clues to lead you in and I'll check in again later on after brekkie cuppa & school run.
No, not Kallang or East Malaysia, but I can see why you say that recalling approaches to Changi from the north over similar looking coastal Malaysia & the waterway of the Johor Strait.
Sycamore - very good, in fact, excellent, but I have a slight issue with "P-75". Other than that, you're still well on the road to a successful I/D.
A couple more clues to lead you in and I'll check in again later on after brekkie cuppa & school run.
you may have missed clues in my previous post.
I42 - Definitely warming up, but not Imphal. And for our Canadian friends, that is a maple leaf in the earlier photo.
The "American-Indian named aircraft" connection is about to be renewed with a different tribe and this airfield may once again be involved in an altercation.
Also, there's a nearby wonder of wartime engineering that is perhaps a bit too subtly hidden in my prose. Still, we'll truck on....
The "American-Indian named aircraft" connection is about to be renewed with a different tribe and this airfield may once again be involved in an altercation.
Also, there's a nearby wonder of wartime engineering that is perhaps a bit too subtly hidden in my prose. Still, we'll truck on....
Last edited by Max Tow; 10th Feb 2021 at 07:29. Reason: add "then & now"'photos to speed things along
Also, there's a nearby wonder of wartime engineering that is perhaps a bit too subtly hidden in my prose. Still, we'll truck on....
Getting there! To split hairs, the Burma Road was just pre WW2 and the original supply route from Burma to China, before the Japanese overran the Burmese ports. It connects to this wartime construction, which lies 50km from our airfield.
Last edited by Max Tow; 10th Feb 2021 at 10:08. Reason: It's getting late in Oz so this map must surely assist...
Tik Hai Sycamore & well done, especially as I didn't have to resort to an aerial photo (there is a contemporary one on Goggle).
Dinjan in Assam it is, the home of Nbr. 5 squadron RAF for a few months in 1942 before the USAAF moved in during the" over the Hump" airlift to China, for which the base is far more famous (but that would have been too easy!)
The pilot in the first aircraft photo is Flt Lt. Keith MacEwan, surveying damage after the Mohawk's first enemy encounter, a "Dave" floatplane in July 42.
The maple leaf cowling belonged to Canadian Flt Sgt. Rod Lawrence, who was later credited with a "Lily" bomber kill, albeit in Oct 42, shortly after the squadron moved south from Dinjan to Agartala. Brave men, all.
Plenty of books about the Hump airlift, but may I commend to any who are interested in this lesser known aircraft (well, to me, anyway!) the excellent "P36 Hawk Aces of World War 2" which includes the above and many other tales.
The waterway may look like the sea but is of course the mighty Brahmaputra.
Other clues explained, with apologies if they didn't help:
The "still well on the road" and "still we'll truck on" - I hoped might help identify the photo of the amazing Stilwell Road (as it's now known, formerly the Ledo Rd) built during the conflict to carry supplies over the mountains to China following the loss of Burma and which starts its 1000km journey nearby.
My "cuppa" mention was intended to suggest tea and, thereby, Assam, specifically the Dinjan Tea Estate where the airfield was built. It's a truly beautiful part of the world, with the river, mountains on both shores and the Kaziranga Wildlife Reserve (refuge of the one horned rhino).
The American pair with the cub is a bit of a mystery. It was definitely taken at Dinjan so I thought it might allude to the flights conducted by the Flying Tigers, however probably not as it does look more like a leopard.
The "American Indian tribe" reference was to connect Mohawks to the impending reactivation of the air base with a detachment of new IAF Chinook helicopters, to provide heavy lift capability during the current India/China eastern Himalaya border tensions.
Finally, the initial rather blurred colour photo of the derelict airfield building was included just so that I could share the accompanying trip report from the unfortunate Sgt. Bikash, repeated below. Hopefully the place has been refurbished before the IAF helo crews move in......
Dinjan in Assam it is, the home of Nbr. 5 squadron RAF for a few months in 1942 before the USAAF moved in during the" over the Hump" airlift to China, for which the base is far more famous (but that would have been too easy!)
The pilot in the first aircraft photo is Flt Lt. Keith MacEwan, surveying damage after the Mohawk's first enemy encounter, a "Dave" floatplane in July 42.
The maple leaf cowling belonged to Canadian Flt Sgt. Rod Lawrence, who was later credited with a "Lily" bomber kill, albeit in Oct 42, shortly after the squadron moved south from Dinjan to Agartala. Brave men, all.
Plenty of books about the Hump airlift, but may I commend to any who are interested in this lesser known aircraft (well, to me, anyway!) the excellent "P36 Hawk Aces of World War 2" which includes the above and many other tales.
The waterway may look like the sea but is of course the mighty Brahmaputra.
Other clues explained, with apologies if they didn't help:
The "still well on the road" and "still we'll truck on" - I hoped might help identify the photo of the amazing Stilwell Road (as it's now known, formerly the Ledo Rd) built during the conflict to carry supplies over the mountains to China following the loss of Burma and which starts its 1000km journey nearby.
My "cuppa" mention was intended to suggest tea and, thereby, Assam, specifically the Dinjan Tea Estate where the airfield was built. It's a truly beautiful part of the world, with the river, mountains on both shores and the Kaziranga Wildlife Reserve (refuge of the one horned rhino).
The American pair with the cub is a bit of a mystery. It was definitely taken at Dinjan so I thought it might allude to the flights conducted by the Flying Tigers, however probably not as it does look more like a leopard.
The "American Indian tribe" reference was to connect Mohawks to the impending reactivation of the air base with a detachment of new IAF Chinook helicopters, to provide heavy lift capability during the current India/China eastern Himalaya border tensions.
Finally, the initial rather blurred colour photo of the derelict airfield building was included just so that I could share the accompanying trip report from the unfortunate Sgt. Bikash, repeated below. Hopefully the place has been refurbished before the IAF helo crews move in......
Last edited by Max Tow; 10th Feb 2021 at 22:01. Reason: typo
Terima kasei,la,Max, but it will be Open House....
I sympathise with Sgt Bikash and his cobras, when having a shower in Borneo with Ghurkhas ,the call went out "Cobra,Cobra,Sahib,Big cobra....!! Well,soaped -up,wearing flip-flops,grabbed my towel,this is no time or place for flute playing,ran out and tripped into a monsoon drain....another place cobras hide...! My orderly,a Gurkha lad of about 16,picked me up over his shoulder,and ran me to the medics,as I had a bleeding foot...That got sorted by the Doc,who gave me a sarong to wear as the towel had `disappeared`...The story had of course been the rounds amongst the troops that `Punka-wallah Sahib`had been attacked by a monster cobra,but had bravely `retreated` and had been injured,,the cobra had also retreated having seen P-W Sahibs bottom.....
For the next few days ,every Ghurkha I met gave me the biggest smile and smartest salute,and `how is your foot Sahib`...? I think I may have given my orderly a bottle of rum as thanks( via his QGO...)
I sympathise with Sgt Bikash and his cobras, when having a shower in Borneo with Ghurkhas ,the call went out "Cobra,Cobra,Sahib,Big cobra....!! Well,soaped -up,wearing flip-flops,grabbed my towel,this is no time or place for flute playing,ran out and tripped into a monsoon drain....another place cobras hide...! My orderly,a Gurkha lad of about 16,picked me up over his shoulder,and ran me to the medics,as I had a bleeding foot...That got sorted by the Doc,who gave me a sarong to wear as the towel had `disappeared`...The story had of course been the rounds amongst the troops that `Punka-wallah Sahib`had been attacked by a monster cobra,but had bravely `retreated` and had been injured,,the cobra had also retreated having seen P-W Sahibs bottom.....
For the next few days ,every Ghurkha I met gave me the biggest smile and smartest salute,and `how is your foot Sahib`...? I think I may have given my orderly a bottle of rum as thanks( via his QGO...)
Nice challenge Max Tow.
Although I'm quite familiar with history of the Burma Campaign - I've read a lot and my dad was at Imphal - it was only during my searches for this aerodrome that I realized that the Burma Road essentially heads east and not northeast as I had assumed.
Although I'm quite familiar with history of the Burma Campaign - I've read a lot and my dad was at Imphal - it was only during my searches for this aerodrome that I realized that the Burma Road essentially heads east and not northeast as I had assumed.
I42 - thanks. Yes, it's always interesting to follow the side stories in these searches, and easy with the internet. I hadn't realised that of the 10k or so Americans involved in the building of the Stilwell/Ledo Road, 60% were African-Americans. Also that Churchill regarded it as a waste of effort, which seems to be at least partially true as the vast majority of cargo went by air before the Burma ports were retaken. Understand that there are moves afoot to restore the road but I guess events in Burma may delay that idea.
Here's one I'd never heard of ..................... or rather I never realised there'd been an aerodrome there
Joyce Green, Kent ?
(A little later) Well I thought it was a Vimy but it's a Handley Page O/400 so I'll have a guess at Cricklewood Aerodrome ?
(A little later) Well I thought it was a Vimy but it's a Handley Page O/400 so I'll have a guess at Cricklewood Aerodrome ?
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 11th Feb 2021 at 18:09. Reason: Second Thoughts.
No but we are in the UK - its a well known (but rather surprising) location
