Leg 20: Lukla to Mandaly - conclusion......

[ddavid 149]

Well, I had an excellent meal at Gupta's house - my host and hostess prepared a huge vegetable curry, with naan and popadoms, helped down with several ice-cold bottles of Kingfisher beer, and finishing off with gajar ka halwa (carrot halva) and ice-cream (not from Yak's milk!) - yum. Gupta had called his brother about my onward flight to Mandalay, and Das had arranged to pick me up in the morning to take me back to Bagdoghra airport.

I woke up to a sunny morning and a splendid breakfast of fruit and home made yogurt. Das arrived in his Air India mini-van and, after a somewhat tearful goodbye to Gupta and his family, he whisked me off to the airport, where he'd booked me on the morning Air Mandalay flight to Mandalay International. Das then led me through customs to the 'Ambassador's Lounge', where he left in the capable hands of the Air Mandalay flight attendants - 'Life is good!', I thought......

The flight was called and we filed out onto the apron, where the Myanmar ATR42-320 was loading:

Despite Das's efforts, I had an aisle seat, next to a rather portly american gentleman, who seemed very interested in a rather ancient PIA DC-3 parked by the cargo ramp:

Will you just look at that! And I'll wager it's a converted C47, too! He was so excited, that the stewardess - and I must stop calling them that! - came over to see if all was well. He turned to me and explained:

I was over here in '45, for the big push to Mandalay. We were stationed by the Brahmaputra and flew Liberators and Dizzies over The Hump. This was going to be an interesting diversion during the flight, which was about to begin:

With the vibrations from the noisy engines filling the cabin, the plane climbed away from Bagdoghra, and my 'vacation' care of the Nepalese:

Coffee was served and 'would I like something to eat?' Well, my neighbour seemed to be enjoying his steak so much that I declined for the moment. And then he spluttered: There it is - the Brahmaputra! Looking across his copious stomach and, now, empty plate, I could see a wide and muddy river:

There must have been six or seven strips on the Burma side of the river. We were ferrying supplies to Chiang Chi Chek's troops in southern China so that they could keep up the pressure on the Japanese from their side. Hang on.... With some difficulty, he fished out a large wallet from beneath his jacket, and produced a number of old black-an-whites.

I started in C47's - this one made over 50 trips across The Hump

Here's two of us about to land at Xunming, about 675 miles from Shamshernagar, where we were based.

After our first tour, we were sent back home to convert to Liberators - this one's at Jorhat, a bit further north....

I asked Wally - we were soon on first name terms - why it was called 'The Hump'? 'Cause that's what it was - a bl**dy great Hump! When the Japanese swept through Singapore and took over Burma, they cut off the road route for supplies to our Chinese allies. So, everything had to be hauled over the mountains - essentially the continuation of the Himalayas. Not as high as Everest, of course, but we had to get over the main passes at 17,500 feet, or so, and get to China that way. Oh yeah - and no sat nav - not even a single beacon until you were well past the high ground. Here's what it was like.... He passed me another photo:

Fly too high and you lose your way through the passes. Fly too low, and, well.... Wally showed another:

Below us was another anonymous airfield on the route to Mandalay:

Wally had retired some months before and had arranged this trip to meet up with some old war-time buddies in Mandalay. He'd left his wife and daughter in Mumbai where they were doing some sight seeing before going on to the coast at Goa. After the re-union, Wally would be returning by plane to Dabolim airport, Vasco da Gama, where he would re-join them. The seat belt sign came on as our captain warned us of some turbulence ahead. Wally grinned - Turbulence - huh!

I guess that's the Irrawaddy, down there - should be descending soon.

A few minutes later and we were down below 3000 feet. The captain came on again to say that we weren't going to land at the new Mandalay International airport as it had been closed due to rioting students. We were being diverted to Chanmyathazi, instead. At this, Wally errupted - Hey! We're landing at Tiny Mandalay - Great! We could just see the approach lights of Mandalay International as we headed north:

Following the STAR to Chanmyathazi, we were soon over the sprawl of the suburbs:

Attendants to your seats, please and the gear came down:

Wally grinned again as the flaps came out and out......

And with a bump, we were back on terra firma:

Hasn't changed a bit! said wally, Still a bl**dy shambles, eh?!?

We shook hands on the apron and I wished him all the best for his re-union. Nice meeting you, Pal - thanks for sharing my memories with me - it was a real pleasure!

As Wally strode off, I turned towards the information desk to ask whether Mandalay International was completely closed as I had a certain article to deliver.......

Well, I hope you enjoyed the ride and the various diversions. Thanks to PhotoBucket, for hosting the screen shots. Thanks also to Francisco S

[needles 1,013]

HOORAH! :biggrin: s Dai'.

Ah! Our wonderful chums from over the pond. Where would webe without them. So enthusiastic about.......everything.

Brilliant shots and storyline Dai', very entertaining.

Glad the Baton made the final leg of this section.

Can't wait to see whre the next section takes us all.

[SEATAC 400]

Great reading. All of ATWC posts are. When does the movie come out? I love watching a good adventure story. Gotta get some popcorn.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Superb leg! I thought Dizzie would come out then!

[rob16584 42]

Fantastic end to your forced holiday Dai, great storyline

[mutley 4,498]

Great flight Captain! I do enjoy some in-flight entertainment. Although your fellow passenger was hard work is was a very nice touch with the black and whites and the info about the Hump.

I hope you enjoyed the Ambassador's Lounge, everyone chipped in for this after your grimey couple of weeks at Lukla, well done lads

Thanks for brilliant post, time to look up the old film-

Cheers

PS watch out for the e-postman news on section three will be arriving in your in-box on Wednesday :biggrin: