COPY OF FLETCHER'S LETTER

January 29, 2008,

Ge Shuya and Diego Kusak,

Thank you for your patience while I am seeking the truth about the air transport exhibited in the Nujiang Museum, Pianma, Yunnan, China and advertised as CNAC #53, a Long Beach, California, built DC-3, in 1941 by Douglas Aircraft. CNAC #53 is the most famous airplane in Chinese history because it is the only air transport, in exisstance, known to have flown the Hump. It flew supplies from India over Burma to China during WWII. It was part of the first airlift and it prevented the certain defeat of the Chinese army by the Japanese invaders.

The first picture attached to this letter is the picture of two DC-3 transports. Bottom one is in the Nujiang Museum that I maintain is a transport that was built in Russian using blueprints supplied by Douglas during WWII. Above that transport is CNAC #50 built in the U.S. by Douglas prior to WWII. This plane is the same model as was CNAC #53. Both #50 and #53 flew the Hump whereas the Russian plane never did. The tail section of CNAC #53 is attached to the Russian plane and is the only part of #53 that is on display.

The plane in the museum has a large 53 attached to it just to the rear and above the captain’s window on the left side. No CNAC transport, during WWII carried a number there. I think it is there to cover the fixed window for the Russian navigator to sight the stars when using celestial navigation. The American planes did not have such a window.

The Russian plane in the museum and the U.S. Army Air Force planes had a star just to the rear of the passenger door whereas the CNAC planes had a large Chung where they had the star. CNAC was a civilian corporation, with only civilian pilots so a star was not allowed to be displayed. The CNAC planes flew without guns to protect them while in the combat zone.

On the Russian plane, the fifth cabin window was set in a door that folded down so a person could step out on the wing when the door was folded down. There he could check the engine oil level and the fuel tanks on that side of the plane. The American-built planes did not have that convenience.

I have drawn a line on the first picture to show where I think the museum mechanics joined the tail section of CNAC #53 to the Russian plane. On the right side, the joint was made further to the front as that section of #53 includes the Chung.

The second picture attachment to this letter shows #53’s tail being unloaded with a crane at Pianma. This section was attached to the plane. The picture shows several large parts of CNAC #53 that were in Pianma and could have been made part of the exhibit at the Nujiang Museum.

The location of the two landing lights, the right wing and the right landing wheel are known and should be returned to the museum promptly and without cost to them. This might encourage others to return parts they have.

I wish to point out that all of the CNAC model 53s had large Chinese characters painted on the undersides of the wings. These characters on CNAC #53 survived the crash and the many years of weather as they were next to the ground and was protected from the weather. There are no Chinese characters under the wings of the plane in the museum. An investigation should be authorized by the central government of Yunnan to locate the missing parts of CNAC #53, such as the left wing, the cockpit and the complete fuselage. They should question the people of Pianma and the Burmese peasants who were paid to keep the parts from being stolen or sold.

The underside of CNAC#53 was painted much lighter than the top side. The underside was to assimilate the sky and the top was to assimilate the jungle of Burma. The plane in the museum is all the same light color green.

The number 53 should be painted on the rudder just as is shown on CNAC #50 in the first attached picture.

Apparently the men of Pianma, who brought the remains of CNAC #53 off the mountain and to the Pianma Town Square in the winter of 1997-98, cut the plane apart by using an acetylene cutting torch. Then it was easy to slide large pieces down the steep mountain. When the museum mechanics tried to reassemble the plane, it was a task beyond their resources and abilities. They asked for expert advice. Apparently the experts recommended placing a Russian DC-3 that was one of several Russian DC-3 planes in the Beijing Aviation Museum, in the Nujiang Museum and claim it was CNAC #53. Except for the tail section of #53, they discarded the CNAC #53 parts. Now we must appeal to those who have discarded the parts to help find them.

The assembled parts of #53 would look like parts of a crashed plane that had been slid down the mountain by careless men of Pianma, China, not like one that could fly again. It would look authentic. The plane in the museum does not look like it crashed on the mountain. The 4,000 crew members who died creating the “Alumina, Trail” over the Hump during WWII  would consider it important to preserve this relic of the Hump.

RETURN