Kunming Wujiaba International Airport was the main airport serving

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

, the capital of

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

, China. It is located south-east of metropolitan Kunming. Originally built in 1923, the airport had been renovated numerous times into a modern facility before closing on 28 June 2012. It was a major hub for

China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (), also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It is ...

Kunming Airlines Kunming Airlines () is a Chinese airline based in Kunming, Yunnan province, and established in 2005. History In December 2005 the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would soon approve operation of the private airline Kunming A ...

, and

Lucky Air Lucky Air () is a low cost carrier based in Kunming, Yunnan, China. The airline started with flights connecting Kunming with Dali and Xishuangbanna, and later expanded to other domestic and international destinations. Its main base is Kunming ...

. The airport has been replaced by the new

Kunming Changshui International Airport Kunming Changshui International Airport is the primary airport serving Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, China. The airport is located northeast of the city center in a graded mountainous area about above sea level. The airport opened ...

. As of 2021, Wujiaba Airport has been demolished and the land will be fully redeveloped before the end of 2021.

History

Wujiaba is among the oldest airports in China, with a history that can be traced back to about 100 years, and was first established into a military airbase and flight-training institute under the supervision of local warlord General

Tang Jiyao Tang Jiyao () (August 14, 1883 – May 23, 1927) was a Chinese general and warlord of Yunnan during the Warlord Era of early Republican China. He was military governor of Yunnan from 1913-27. Life Tang was born in Huize county in 1883 in ...

in 1922; an additional 23 airports would be established in Yunnan from 1922-1929. The Sino-Japanese War was the beginning of

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in Asia, and following the Battles of Shanghai and

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, the Chinese Central Air Force Academy had to be relocated from Jianqiao Airbase to the expanded Wujiaba Airport. After a few years of support of the

Chinese Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an Air force, aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular army, regular ...

under the Sino-Soviet Cooperation in the War of Resistance against the Empire of Japan, the United States began to show earnest support for China's war effort with the

oil embargo An oil embargo is an economic situation wherein entities engage in an embargo to limit the transport of petroleum to or from an area, in order to exact some desired outcome. One commentator states, " oil embargo is not a common commercial practice; ...

and

asset freezing Asset freezing is a form of interim or interlocutory injunction which prevents a defendant to an lawsuit, action from dealing with or dissipating its assets so as to frustrate a potential Judgment (law), judgment. It is widely recognised in other ...

against Japan in 1941, and Wujiaba became the base for the "legendary

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

", the

American Volunteer Group The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to actually see combat was the 1st AVG, pop ...

(AVG) of combat airmen serving in the

, led by

Claire Lee Chennault Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighter ...

just before the United States entered the war. After the US entered the war in December 1941, and starting in 1942, Wujiaba Airport was the headquarters of numerous

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

units, including the

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

and later 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 AF ...

. The USAAF

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 ...

(ATC) established a major air transport facility at the airport, which connected flights west to

Chabua Airfield Chabua Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force base located at Chabua of Dibrugarh district in the States and territories of India, state of Assam, India. History US Air Force This Base was built in 1939. During World War II it was a major ...

, India, with other routes within China

Jiangbei Airport Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is located in Yubei District, Chongqing, China. The airport's IATA Airport code, CKG, is derived from the city's former romanized name, Chungking. Jiangbei airport is also a 128-hour transit visa-fre ...

(

Chunking Chunking may mean: * Chunking (division), an approach for doing simple mathematical division sums, by repeated subtraction * Chunking (computational linguistics), a method for parsing natural language sentences into partial syntactic structures * ...

); Chengtu Air Base, and

Banmaw Airport Bhamo Airport is an airport serving Bhamo (Banmaw), a city in the Kachin State in northern Myanmar. It is also known as Banmaw Airport. History Built as a Japanese Air Force base in 1942, the airport was attacked numerous times by Allied forces ...

(Bhamo, Burma). After the war ended in 1945, a 1,390-mile (2,224 kilometer) route east to

Clark Air Base Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located west of Angeles City, about northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was previously a United States military facility, operated by the U.S. Air Forc ...

in the Philippines was established. The route to Clark AB established a complete worldwide transport route for ATC. The Flying Tigers Association visited in October 1982 and again in September 2005.

Other facilities

Before merging into

China Yunnan Airlines China Eastern Yunnan Airlines ( zh, s=东方航空云南有限公司, t=東方航空雲南有限公司, p=Dōngfāng Hángkōng Yúnnán Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), is an airline based in Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. It is the ...

had its head office was located at the airport."World Airline Directory." ''

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

''. 1–7 April 1998
57
"Wujaba Airport, Kunming, 650200, Yunnan Province, China"

Images

File:In Front Of Wujiaba Airport.JPG, Main building File:Kunming Wujiaba Airport (KMG) front.JPG, Front File:KUNMING2.jpg, Runway

Notes

References

* {{authority control Defunct airports in China Airports established in 1923 Airports disestablished in 2012 1923 establishments in China 2012 disestablishments in China Airports in Yunnan Transport in Kunming Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in China Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the China-Burma-India Theater Flying Tigers

History

Other facilities

Images

See also

Notes

References