APRIL 7, 1943
CRASH LANDING IN NAGA HILLS - OVER THE HUMP
|
From The Dragon's Wings C.J. Rosbert and his copilot miraculously survived a crash landing in the Naga Hills on April 7. Rosbert's radio operator was killed. From Fletcher Hank's, "WHEN AND HOW THE CNAC CRASHES HAPPENED ON THE HUMP AND ITS ENVIRONS DURING WWII" (hand-dated 5/4/02) Joe Rosbert, copilot Ridge Hammell, 04/07/43, C-53 #58. Radio operator, Y.T. Wong had his neck broken in the crash. Both pilots survived. On trip out of Dinjan, Joe experienced heavy icing and snow while climbing out of Dinjan. After an hour of fighting the storm and losing altitude, he decided to return to Dinjan. Joe melted ice off the inside of the windshield by holding the palms of his hands alternately at one spot until a very small hole appeared. While Joe peered through the hole he saw that the plane was on a collision course with a mountain peak to the center of the plane. He violently banked the plane to the right a couple of seconds before the plane made contact with the mountain. This maneuver saved the pilots' lives. The plane then skidded over the side of the mountain and down into another peak where it came to rest at 13,750 feet. They had been blown north into the high mountains, on the border of Tibet and north Burma, in an area known as "The Graveyard of the Himalayas". No one during WWII walked out of the area. Joe had a compound fracture of his right leg just above the ankle. Ridge had the tendons ripped off his right ankle. In spit of these severe injuries, they walked out. Both flew the Hump again. Source: "Wings Over Asia" as told by Joe Rosbert. Here's another version of the above story. "Only God Knew the Way" written by William Clemens appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. |