Memoirs of a Hump Pilot Lost in the HIMALAYAS
About the Able Queen
"An unpretentious account of Pilot Robert Binzer's experiences flying the Aluminum Trail in WWII China. A gem." Booklife review
Young Bob Binzer only dreamed of flying. He climbed the tallest trees on his street to watch planes take off from Chicago’s Meigs Field and imagined being an aviator. When America joined World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps hoping to earn his wings only to be assigned first duty as a radio operator.
But on the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, everything changed. Bob finally got his wish, but little did he know he would be joining the famed 14th Airforce in China flying C-47s into hostile territory as a Transport Pilot.
Take a seat in the cockpit next to Bob as he navigates one of the most dangerous air routes in the world, the China Hump, where every day he dodges enemy fighters, avoids air raids, and makes narrow escapes until the day he is forced to bail out of a doomed plane. What will it take for him to survive being lost in the Himalayas?
About the Pilot
Robert Dean Binzer, 1922-2019, served his country from 1941 to 1945 as a Hump Pilot in the CBI Theatre of War during World War II. He began writing his recollections of the war in the 1970s and continued recording memories until shortly before his death. Binzer received the following military service decorations.
- Distinguished Flying Cross with One Oak Leaf Cluster
- Air Medal with Two Oak Leaf Clusters
- Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon with One Bronze Star
- American Defense Ribbon
- China War Memorial Medal