William Langhorne Bond (1893-1985)

QA-44

W. Langhorne Bond, aviation executive, grew up in this neighborhood. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I. In 1931 he became manager of the China National Aviation Corporation, founded as a joint venture between the American aircraft company Curtiss-Wright and the Chinese government. During World War II, Bond was the driving force behind organizing and promoting the high-altitude air route between India and China known as “the Hump,” which provided an essential link to China after the Japanese shut down other points of access. Over this difficult route the U.S. delivered nearly 740,000 tons of supplies, fortifying American troops and enabling China to remain in the war against Japan.

Department of Historic Resources, 2021

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

W. Langhorne Bond, Wings for an Embattled China, ed. James E. Ellis (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2001). John D. Plating, “Keeping China in the War: The Trans-Himalayan ‘Hump’ Airlift and Sino-US Strategy in World War II (Ph.D. diss., The Ohio State University, 2007). William W. Leary, “Bond, William Langhorne,” Dictionary of Virginia Biography, 2:75-76 Register of the W. Langhorne Bond Papers, Stanford University http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/hoover/bondwlan.pdf National Museum of the United States Air Force, “First Over the ‘Hump’: The China National Aviation Corporation” (29 April 2015). https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196206/first-over-the-hump-the-china-national-aviation-corporation/ Richmond Times-Dispatch, 28 July 1985. New York Times, 27 July 1985.