The India-China Division (ICD) is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

unit. Its last assignment was with the

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

, stationed at

Dum Dum Airport Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is an international airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and is the aviation hub for eastern and northeastern India. It is located approximatel ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. It was inactivated in 1946. The organization was formed as the India-China Wing, ATC (ICWATC) from a consolidation of equipment and personnel of former units of the disbanded India-China Ferry Command in December 1942, which had been established in July 1942 by the

Tenth Air Force The Tenth Air Force (10 AF) is a unit of the U.S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field (formerly Carswell ...

to transport materiel to China over the Himalayan Mountains ("

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and ...

"). ICWATC was one of nine overseas transport wings of ATC's Air Transportation Division, reporting directly to Division headquarters and not subject to control by theater commanders. It was also one of the few ATC wings to have its own assigned aircraft under the direct command of the wing commander. In July 1944 ATC reorganized worldwide and the nine wings became divisions. ICWATC became the India-China Division, with its Eastern and Western Sectors redesignated the Assam and India Wings respectively. Its mission was the air transport of supplies, personnel, equipment and aircraft within

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and China during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Between 1 December 1942 and 1 December 1943 its flying components were transport groups and squadrons. After that ATC discarded the standard

TO&E A table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is the specified organization, staffing, and equipment of units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'. It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of a unit as well as the u ...

group/squadron structure for its units and adopted a more flexible "exact manning" system, identifying its units by their station number designation until August 1944, when it converted to the service-wide Army Air Force Base Unit system of designating non-combat units. The organization began with two stations (Dinjan and Chabua) and three others under construction, operating less than 60 aircraft. By August 1945 ICD had expanded to more than 60 Base Units, 640 aircraft, and 34,000 personnel. On 29 January 1944 the ICWATC became the first non-combat organization to be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, at the personal direction of President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, for its efforts flying the Hump.

History

Lineage

* Constituted as the India-China Wing, Air Transport Command : Activated on 1 December 1942 : Redesignated India-China Division, Air Transport Command on 1 July 1944 : Inactivated on 15 February 1946

Assignments

, 1 December 1942 – 1946

Components

1 December 1942 to 1 December 1943 * 1st Ferrying Group :

3d Ferrying Squadron 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

: 6th Ferrying Squadron : 13th Ferrying Squadron :

Dinjan Airfield Dinjan Airfield, also known as Dinjan Air Force Station, is an air base of Indian Air Force. Established as an air field in World War II, it is located in Dinjan, approximately seven miles northeast of Chabua, in the state of Assam, India. The f ...

, Assam, India * 22d Transport Group :

77th Transport Squadron The 7th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 19th Operations Group, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1993. History World War II Establ ...

: 78th Transport Squadron : 88th Transport Squadron :

Jorhat Airfield Jorhat Airport , also known as Rowriah Airport is a domestic airport serving Jorhat, Assam, India. It is located at Rowriah, which is situated 7 kilometres south-west from the city centre. History It was established in early 1950s and commo ...

, Assam, India * 28th Transport Group : 96th Transport Squadron : 97th Transport Squadron : 98th Transport Squadron :

Tezpur Airfield Tezpur Airport , also known as Salonibari Air Force Station, is a regional airport and an Indian Air Force Station serving Tezpur, Assam, India. It is located in Salonibari, which is situated 8.5 km (5.2 mi) from the city centre. The airpor ...

, Assam, India * 29th Transport Group : 13th Ferrying Squadron : 99th Transport Squadron :

100th Transport Squadron 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

301st Transport Squadron 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societies ...

Sookerating Airfield Sookerating Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force base located at Sookerating in the state of Assam, India. It is a secondary airport for the Indian Air Force, which operates much more actively from other air bases in the region.. During Wo ...

, Assam, India * 30th Transport Group : 302d Transport Squadron :

303d Transport Squadron 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societies ...

: 304th Transport Squadron : Mohanbari Airfield, Assam, India

Stations

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* {{Air Force Historical Research Agency * The Army Almanac, Armed Forces Information School (U.S), Washington. D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1950
India-China Wing

Military units and formations of the United States Army Air Forces