September 20, 1946
LOCHI MOUNTAIN

UPDATE - February 26, 2021 Received the following new details and pictures from Ann Lee, Writer and Historian of WW II. Hi Tom, About my uncle and the accident of C-47 No.81 on Sept. 20, 1946, I only found some info from Chinese CNAC history book and report. I wish you still remember me as I gave a speech about Chinese Air Force training in American at the last CNAC Oct 2019 reunion and brought a TV production team to interview Moon Chin. Surplyingly, from my family tree I found two of my uncles (my father's cousins) used to be CNAC pilots. They were recruited from University of Nanking in 1944. These two young men flew over the humps many times during the war. Unfortunately, after WWII, because of bad weather conditions, one of my uncles (Tuan, Pao Tai) died in a flight accident (C-47 #81) on Sept 20, 1946. The pilot ,A. W. Longbotham, together with my uncle (co-pilot), radio operator (Liang, Chun Ling), flight attendant (Huang, Li) and other 28 passengers (total 31) no one survived. On October 9th, pilot R. W. Pottschmidt found the C-47 wreckage from the mountains near XiChuang (north west China). Following is my translation: CNAC C-47 No. 81 plane crashed On September 20, 1946 CNAC C-47 No. 81 flew back to Kunming from Xichang. Twenty minutes after takeoff, communication was interrupted due to bad weather. The aircraft finally disappeared. The pilot was A. W. Longbotham, co-pilot Tuan, Paotai (段保泰), radio operator Liang, Chunlin (梁春霖), flight attendant Huang, Li (黄利) and 28 passengers were all missing. After many rounds of searches, no results, until October 9, R. W. Pottschmidt drove a reconnaissance aircraft and found the wreckage of C-47 No.81 in Lochi Mountain (螺髺山), about 30 kilometers away from Xichang. Total 31 crew members and passengers were killed and none survived. Additional information. September and October 1946 Unknown newspaper articles courtesy of Mrs. Allan (Billie) Chambers (Andrew Lungbotham? It's really Longbotham) If you would like to share any information about this accident or would like to be added to the CNAC e-mail distribution list, please let the CNAC Web Editor, Tom Moore, know. Thanks!