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{{short description|Airfield in India}}
{{No footnotes|date=September 2010}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name=Dudhkundi Airfield
| ensign=[[File:Twentieth Air Force - Emblem (World War II).png|60px]] [[File:Tenth Air Force - Emblem (World War II).png|60px]]
| partof = Twentieth Air Force<br>Tenth Air Force
| location= West Bengal, India
| image=
| caption=
| pushpin_map= India West Bengal#India
| pushpin_mark= Airplane_silhouette.svg
| pushpin_relief = 1
| pushpin_label=Dudhkundi Airfield
| pushpin_mapsize=300
| coordinates= {{Coord|22|19|21.16|N|087|06|33.62|E|display=inline,title}}
| type=Military airfield
| code=
| height=
| ownership=
| controlledby=
| condition= Abandoned
| built=1942
| builder=
| used= 1942-1945
| materials=
| demolished=
| battles= World War II
| events=
| past_commanders=
| garrison=
| occupants=
}}

[[File:444bg-678bs-44-70108-sweet-thing.jpg|thumb|678th Bomb Squadron 44-70108 "Sweet Thing". Notice the black paint applied to the under surface of the aircraft. This was applied to reduce reflection of Japanese searchlights when flying low-level night incendiary missions.]]
[[File:444th bombardment gp-emblem.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Emblem of the 444th Bombardment Squadron]]
'''Dudhkundi Airfield''' is an abandoned airfield in [[India]], located 12 miles (19.2 km) SE of [[Jhargram]], in the [[Jhargram district]] in the Indian state of [[West Bengal]].

==History==
During [[World War II]], the airfield hosted the [[United States Army Air Force]] [[444th Bombardment Group]] prior to its deployment to the [[Mariana Islands]].

Dudhkundi was originally designed for [[B-24 Liberator]] use. In 1943 it was designated as a [[B-29 Superfortress]] Base for the planned deployment of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] [[XX Bomber Command]] to India. Advance Army Air Forces echelons arrived in India in December 1943 to organize the upgrading of the airfield and thousands of Indians labored to upgrade the facility for Superfortress operations. It was one of four B-29 bases established by the Americans in India.

Finally ready for use in July 1944, the [[444th Bombardment Group]] moved to Dudhkundi from [[Charra Airfield]]. The 444th was part of the [[Operation Matterhorn]] project of XX Bomber Command, the bombing of the [[Japan|Japanese Home Islands]]. In order to reach Japan, the B-29s of the group needed to stage operations from [[Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport|Kwanghan Airfield]] (A-3), a forward base just to the southwest of [[Chendu]] in south-central [[China]].

However, all the supplies of fuel, bombs, and spares needed to support operations from Kwanghan had to be flown 1,200 miles from India over "[[The Hump]]" (the name given by Allied pilots to the eastern end of the [[Himalayan Mountains]]), since Japanese control of the seas around the Chinese coast made seaborne supply of China impossible. Many of the supplies had to be delivered to China by the B-29s themselves. For this role, they were stripped of nearly all combat equipment and used as flying tankers and each carried seven tons of fuel for the six-hour (one-way) flight, which itself was almost at the limit of the B-29's range. The Hump route was so dangerous and difficult that each time a B-29 flew from India to China it was counted as a combat mission. It took six round-trip flights by each Superfortress to Kwanghan in order to mount one combat mission from the forward base.

Missions of the 444th flown from Dudhkundi included attacking transportation centers, naval installations, aircraft plants, and other targets in [[Burma]], [[China]], [[Thailand]], [[Japan]], and [[Formosa]].

On the night August 10–11, 56 B-29s staged through British air bases in [[Ceylon]] (now known is Sri Lanka) attacked the Plajdoe oil storage facilities at [[Palembang]] on [[Sumatra]] in present-day Indonesia. This involved a 4030-mile, 19-hour mission from Ceylon to Sumatra, the longest American air raid of the war. The 444th conducted a daylight raid against iron and steel works at [[Yawata]], Japan, in August 1944, being awarded a [[Distinguished Unit Citation]] for the mission.

In September 1944, the 679th Bomb Squadron was inactivated in order to streamline the group's organization. This left the 444th with three squadrons of ten B-29s each.

The 444th evacuated staging fields in China in January 1945 due to the Japanese offensive in South China which threatened the forward staging bases, but continued operations from India, bombing targets in [[Thailand]] and mining waters around [[Singapore]]. However, by late 1944 it was becoming apparent that B-29 operations against Japan staged out of the bases in Chengtu were far too expensive in men and materials and would have to be stopped. In December 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the decision that Operation Matterhorn would be phased out, and the B-29s would be moved to newly captured bases in the Marianas in the central Pacific.

On 1 March 1945, the 444th Bombardment Group flew south to Ceylon, then southeast across the [[Indian Ocean]] to [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] in [[Western Australia]]. Flying north through [[New Guinea]], it reached its new home at [[Tinian International Airport|West Field]], [[Tinian]], in the [[Mariana Islands]] on 7 April where it and its parent [[58th Bombardment Wing]] came under the command of the new [[XXI Bomber Command]].

With the departure of the B-29s to the Marianas, Dudhkundi Airfield was turned over to the [[Tenth Air Force]]. The 87th Air Depot Group took over command of the airfield, and the mission of the base was to be a maintenance and disposition center for surplus Allied aircraft.

The [[80th Fighter Group]] moved in on 24 May from its primitive base at [[Myitkyina]], [[Burma]], with a mixture of [[P-38 Lightning]]s, [[A-36 Apache]]s and dive-bomber modified [[P-40 Warhawk]] (B-40) being withdrawn from combat. The 80th returned to the United States in October 1945, leaving its aircraft and equipment at the airfield.

With its departure, the [[B-24 Liberator]] equipped [[7th Bombardment Group]] moved to Dudhkundi. It remained at the airfield, also leaving its aircraft and equipment in India and sending its personnel back to the United States. It was inactivated as a paper unit in January 1946.

With the last Americans leaving in early 1946, the airfield was turned over to the British colonial government.

Prior to [[World War II]], '''Dudhkundi''' was a forest belonging to the king of [[Jhargram]] who rendered it to the [[United States Army Air Force]] to build an Airfield. The postwar history of the airfield is unclear, however today it is long abandoned. No structures remain, however traces of runways and taxiways can be viewed from the air. Airfield has been converted into an air-to-ground firing range to [[Kalaikunda Air Force Station]]. Some small villages appear to have taken over the former billeting areas.

==See also==

* [[Operation Matterhorn]]

==References==
{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-89201-092-4}}.
* [http://www.444thbg.org/unithistoryinfo.htm 444th Bomb Group Website]

{{USAAF 10th Air Force World War II}}
{{USAAF 20th Air Force World War II}}
{{Paschim Medinipur topics}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in British India]]
[[Category:Airports in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Defunct airports in India]]
[[Category:Paschim Medinipur district]]
[[Category:Military airbases established in 1944]]
[[Category:1944 establishments in India]]
[[Category:20th-century architecture in India]]
[[Category:Military airbases closed in 1946]]

Dudhkundi Airfield - Revision history

Rolly at 19:40, 7 August 2025