Mae Hong Son Airstrip: 1944 onwards

Mae Hong Son Airstrip
1. Mae Hong Son Airstrip
2. Mae Hong Son Airstrip: 1942 to 1943
3. Mae Hong Son Airstrip: 1944 onwards

January 1944

“Miniatures” were a feature of Allied Airfield Reports for a time, designed to provide a quick reference for pilots to as many as 150 air facilities on one page.1 This is a “miniature” for the Mae Hong Son airstrip.2

Cat [Category] D: Fair weather [use] only.
Runway lengths:
Long runway: 1100 Yds (yards, or 1006 meters)
Short runway: 550 Yds (yards or 503 meters)
[Aircraft] Shelters: 03

January 1944

An amendment to reporting in January 1944 was provided to supplement information about the Mae Hong Son airstrip.

There are two important points here:

1. Improvement activities seemed to be occurring, indicating the continued presence of IJA troops despite abandonment of the road project — though this might have been the result of delayed information surfacing after 09 November 1942

2. Two wrecked sheds had been removed. The origins of the sheds is not (probably can never be) clear, but it would be reasonable to assume that this wreckage was left over from the air raids in early 1942 — and was finally being cleared:4

February 1944

No activity at the airstrip was reported, a reflection (finally?) of the 09 November 1943 I J A decision to abandon the Thai-Burma road connection — but also perhaps evidence of delays in processing data by Allied intelligence:5

April 1944

A formal introduction, including a map, was provided for the Mae Hong Son airstrip in Spring 1944.6 Aircraft reported as “occasionally” present were almost certainly Aerial Transport Company mail planes:7

A formal “spec” sheet for the airstrip was included:8

And a standard update on activities observed at the airstrip was included:9

That the obstruction provided by two craters on the main runway remained unfilled since  01 Feb 1944 suggests that the craters were the result of an Allied air attack after the last Airfield Report in January; however, there is no record of such. As well, the failure to repair the craters probably reflected changing priorities for the Thai Occupation Army as the I J A’s invasion of India matured.

Another section of that report in April 1944 made an observation significant for the entire history of the Mae Hong Son airstrip during WWII:10

Transcription:

It is interesting to note that the meagre line of landing grounds in close proximity to the Burmese border from Mae Hong Son to Mae Sot, including Khun Yuam and Mae Sariang, have not to date been developed. In view of their difficult lines of communication it is unlikely however, that they would be employed for any purpose other than emergency use so that some form of maintenance work is likely to be the limit of their attention.

July 1944

A follow-up three months later provided additional details on the airstrip:11

September 1944

Mae Hong Son was noted on a map of unknown vintage which was reissued to describe evasion/escape routes for downed pilots:12

15 November 1944

An update provided more details about the airstrip:13

December 1944

And yet more detail:14

 

06 February 1945

Despite its poor quality, the aerial photo below is particularly useful in that it provides sufficient detail to fairly accurately locate the old airstrip with relation to the new. One error is that the north arrow should be pointing about 10° to the right: it appears to be aligned approximately with the north-south road to the west of the main runway — in actual fact, that road is on heading 170°-350°. See illustration on page one:15

The quality of this photo is very poor because it is a microfilm copy of a printed publication of unknown quality.

17 February 1945

The flight report below records the single aerial photo coverage of Mae Hong Son and environs by the 21st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (21PRS), part of the 14th Air Force headquartered in China. Other coverage obviously exists: 40PRS is credited with having taken the aerial photo above on 06 Feb 1945 per mission no. 5 M 75, but I have found no reports from that unit as yet.16

15 March 1945

The March 1945 Airfield Report comments probably evidence Japan’s growing inability to replace damaged/destroyed equipment:17

20 March 1945

Shores records:

20 March 1945 . . . fighter squadrons of the 2nd Air Commando Group flew to northern Thailand to strafe fields at Chiengmai . . . . Near Chiengmai Capt William C Marshall of the 1st Command Squadron [and flying a P-51] encountered a small single-engined aircraft which he identified as a ‘Stinson-type’ and shot it down. It was in fact a civilian Fairchild 24 of the Aerial Transport Company of Thailand, which was unfortunate enough to have arrived at exactly the same time as the US fighters.18

The narrative appears to have been inaccurate in that ground sources apparently witnessed the same event and one saw the plane crash near Mae Surin (N18°54.77 E97°56.68), 113 km (70 mi) WNW of Chiang Mai, but only 44 km (27 mi) south of Mae Hong Son.19

Chronicled in that downing is the death of a locally famous pilot, a Mr Puai, who had long flown the connection between Chiang Mai and points west — Mae Hong Son and Mae Sariang.20

Another source recalls three more deaths:

. . . there was a [Thai] mail plane (for letter delivery from Mae Hong Son to Amphoes Khun Yuam and Mae Sariang). This plane flew three times a month. One day, the mail plane met an [Allied Forces] plane flying in the opposite direction. The pilot wrongly identified the Thai pilot of the mail plane as Japanese and shot the mail plane which caught fire and crashed in the Ban Mae Surin area.

Villagers went to the crash site and found four dead bodies: the pilot, Mr Puai [surname unknown]; a pilot assistant [name unknown]; a Japanese soldier in uniform; and the superintendent of Mae Hong Son.21

Through 15 August 1945 (end of war)

For record purposes, as of July 2012, good quality World War II era aerial photographs of the Mae Hong Song area have not been found.

01 February 1971

Information in the Air America Air Facilities Data Thailand pamphlet entry on Mae Hong Son airstrip does not mention the cross-winds runway, but is otherwise consistent with earlier observations. It would appear that the crosswinds runway had been abandoned:22

Key items, location and runway headings, generally conform to past and present data on the airport. The terms are defined here23

1974

From Chiang Mai University Library website “Lanna past through pictures”, is a view of the Mae Hong Son Airport runway in 1974. Taken by Boonserm Satrabhaya, he probably used a telephoto lens and shot from Wat Phra That Doi Keng Mu (N19°18 E97°57.6).

Another 1974 photo looks westwards and shows the terminal building plus Doi Keng Mu in the background with the wat visible as two small white triangles near the summit:24


1992 / 2007(?)

The area is covered by Royal Thai Survey Department Map No. 4547 I, Title: Mae Hong Son:

7017 Series (Mar 1992): information is out-of-date
7018 Series (   2007  ?): this is the current series and is
controlled by copyright.

Distribution of this map is severely limited by the Thai government which seems to have a policy of minimizing the availability of government information about border areas. As such, the map is not available to the general public.

Coverage of the area by Google Earth, PointAsia, Bing, Flash Earth, etc, is readily available directly on the Internet; plus Garmin, Magellan, Tom‑Tom, etc, PNDs; and smart phone apps, whatever technology ‑‑‑ can be substituted. In almost all cases these alternate sources are more up-to-date, more accurate, larger scale, etc.

AIRPORT CURRENT STATS25

Name: Mae Hong Son Airport – VTCH
Coordinates: N18°18 E97°58
Runway Heading: 11/29 [106.26° / 286.26°] Length: 2,000 meters (30 meters wide)
Slope: none
Elevation: 929′
Obstructions: Mountain on the end of Runway 11. One-way airstrip.

The Thai Flying Club webpage includes an excellent view on the approach path to the airport to illustrate why the airport is “one-way”.

Last Updated on 29 February 2024

  1. For example, see USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 607 [↩]
  2. Airfield Report No. 18, Jan 1944, “Airfield Miniatures”: Mae Hong Son, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 422). [↩]
  3. “The number of aircraft shelters at each airfield is given as accurately as possible. Shelters wide enough to accommodate aircraft of 65/70 ft wingspan or more are classed as large; those under 65 ft as medium.” Airfield Report No. 14, Sep 1943, “Record of Airfield Activity and Development” [my source is currently unclear]. [↩]
  4. ibid, “Amendment to Airfield Report No. 18 [Jan 1944]”, Part II. “Amendments to Airfield Lists”, “Amendment No. 2”, undated, p 36 (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 475). [↩]
  5. Airfield Report No. 19, Feb 1944, “Record of Airfield Activity and Development”, p 24 (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 524). [↩]
  6. Siam (Thailand) List of Airfields and Seaplane Stations (Washington: Ass’t Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, 1945), unnumbered page (USAF Archive Reel A1285, p 1233) [↩]
  7. Young, p 216. [↩]
  8. Airfield Report No. 21, Apr 1944, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 670). [↩]
  9. ibid, “Record of Airfield Activity and Development”, p XVII, (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 713). [↩]
  10. ibid, p 4, “Review of Airfield Development in Thailand”, (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 618). [↩]
  11. Provisional Airfield List: Southeast Asia: Enemy Airfield Information Report No. 3, p 62 (USAF Archive microfilm reel A1284 p 1412). [↩]

  12. Extract from “Evasion Map of Burma 3 Sept 44”, ‘E’ Group Periodic Bulletin, Number 2, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8021 p 0969) NB: date of original map is unstated.

    The dashed line which starts just to the west (left) of “Me’hohngsohn” (circled) is the recommended escape route from that area. [↩]

  13. Airfield Report No. 28, Nov 1944, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8055 p 969). [↩]
  14. Siam (Thailand) List of Airfields and Seaplane Stations (Washington: Ass’t Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, 1945), unnumbered pages (USAF Archive Reel A1285, p 1234). [↩]
  15. Airfield Report No. 32, Mar 1945, aerial photo “Mae Hong Son Landing Ground”, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8056 p 53). [↩]
  16. 21st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron Report Mission No. 5 MA 39, 17 Feb 1944 (USAF Archive microfilm reel A0878 p0769). [↩]
  17. Airfield Report No. 32, Mar 1945, aerial photo “Mae Hong Son Landing Ground”, unnumbered page (USAF Archive microfilm reel A8056 p 126). [↩]
  18. Shores, Christopher, Air War for Burma (London: Grub Street, 2005), pp 342‑343. [↩]
  19. Information about Japanese Soldiers, Mr Boon-ton Sriwichai (Interviewee No 8). [↩]
  20. บุญเสิม สาตราภัย เชียงใหม่กับภัยทางอากาศ (กรุงเทพฯ: วิญฌูชน, 2003) Boonserm Satrabhaya, Chiang Mai and the Air War (Bangkok: Winyuchon, 2003), p 136. [↩]
  21. Information about Japanese Soldiers, ibid. [↩]
  22. Air Facilities Data Thailand 432 (?: Air America?, 1971), p 6. See Legend for interpreting page content. [↩]
  23. See Legend for interpreting page content. [↩]
  24. Boonserm Satrabhaya, ibid, p 138. Photo included here per his suggestion. [↩]
  25. Thai Flying Club webpage for Mae Hong Son. [↩]

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