‘Hump World War II’ Museum opens in Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat
The ‘Hump World War II’ Museum displaying remnants of an aircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh during World War II is set to be inaugurated today by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti.
The museum, located in Pasighat, East Siang district, will pay tribute to the ‘Hump World War II’, one of the most remarkable feats of aviation history. The ‘Hump World War II’ Museum will include artifacts, photographs, documents and several other exhibits that tell the story of the Hump Operation.
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Arunachal CM Pema Khandu took to X to inform that he is on his way to Pasighat to attend the inauguration of the ‘Hump World War II Museum’.
He wrote, “Today I will be attending the inauguration of the ‘Hump World War- II’ museum at Pasighat in East Siang district along with US Ambassador to India HE Eric Garcetti. The unique museum will be showcasing the remnants of aircrafts that went missing during World War II in Arunachal Pradesh.”
Heading towards the oldest town of Arunachal Pradesh – Pasighat.
Today I will be attending the inauguration of the 'Hump World War- II' museum at Pasighat in East Siang district along with US Ambassador to India HE Eric Garcetti.
The unique museum will be showcasing the… pic.twitter.com/y1PcfUBAJz
— Pema Khandu པདྨ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་། (@PemaKhanduBJP) November 29, 2023
The Hump Operation was a massive logistical undertaking during the World War II that involved transporting supplies and soldiers over the treacherous Himalayas to support Allied forces fighting the Japanese.
The operation was fraught with danger, as pilots faced extreme weather conditions and high altitudes. Many aircrafts went missing and nearly 650 aircrafts crashed during the operation.
During the war, the Hump became an important route for the US-led allied forces because the Japanese Army had blocked the 1150 km mountain highway connecting Lashio in present-day Myanmar and Kunming in China.
The allied forces had to undertake one of the biggest airlifts in aviation history through the route that traversed through regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tibet, Yunnan (China) and Myanmar, which came to be known as ‘The Hump’ because of the deep gorges and the high altitude of the region.
According to a US Embassy handout in 2017, investigators from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) returned to India that year to continue the search for remains of US personnel missing since World War II.
As per their report, approximately 400 US airmen went missing in India, most of whose remains are believed to be located in the Himalayan Mountains in northeast India.
I would be grateful for a contact name and email address at the Hump Museum so that I can ask some questions, and share some further information I have about the WW2 airlift. Thank you very much,. Roger White
Dear Roger White,
Thank you for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, we do not have direct contact details for the Hump Museum. However, we obtained an email address of the Tourism Department of Arunachal Pradesh from their official website https://arunachaltourism.com/. You can reach out to them at tourismdirectorap@gmail.com.