Skies of Thunder 

The deadly World War II mission over the roof of the world

by Caroline Alexander

Published by Ithaka Press; Dist. by Allen & Unwin

RRP $36.99 in paperback

ISBN 9781804189887

(See YouTube link below for more information)

Years earlier, a National Geographic assignment had brought Caroline Alexander to the remote jungles of the Hukawng Valley in the north of Burma. It is a sparsely inhabited region of formidable geography. It was then she discovered that some 1,700 American airmen had died flying ‘the Hump’, the catchall phrase that described the inhospitable mountain ridges on the Burma-China border.

If they survived the crash, they perished in the jungle from which, in parts, you could not see the sky.

In April 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Army captured Burma, the only ground route from India to China was closed, hence the need to fly supplies over the foothills of the treacherous Himalayas, on what was the most dangerous air route in the world, testing the very limit of aircraft survivability.

Delving into long forgotten memoirs, diaries, and official records, Alexander tells the story of the airmen who braved this perilous journey, flying unreliable aircraft through monsoons and enemy fire, with primitive navigation tools.

The result is a litany of both deadly crashes and astonishing feats of survival all conducted against the backdrop of the simmering political tensions between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek.

As ever, questions were raised as to the value of the operation to support China. China and the US were at best, uneasy allies.

What Alexander has laid out is, on the one hand, an heroic story of brave American airmen and on the other hand a complex geopolitical analysis of a largely overlooked theatre of war.

FIND OUT MORE:

The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, USA – International Conference on World War II, November 20-22, 2025. 

Author Caroline Alexander, in conversation with John Curatola, recounts a story of extraordinary human courage, where Allied troops overcame the monumental challenge of constructing jungle airfields and navigating “the Hump”—the treacherous mountain barrier that defined the vital air route for supplies from India.

Click on the image below to view on YouTube.