World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Ganzhou Airfield (Postal Map romanization: Kanchow) in Jiangxi Province, China was originally built in 1936 with a 1,200-meter main runway and a 900-meter auxiliary runway. Both runways were 40 meters wide and 32 centimeters thick. Although it was a military airfield, it was used in the civilian capacity on many occasions. After the US entry into WW2 in Dec 1941, the airfield hosted photographic reconnaissance variant of US P-38 Lightning aircraft, while it also became the temporary home for several US units flying P-51 Mustang fighters and B-25 Mitchell bombers. The Americans departed from the airfield after the end of the war, and it became abandoned for many years. On 13 Nov 1959, communist Chinese authorities re-opened the airfield for civilian use under the name of Ganzhou Huangjin Airport. Its operations ceased in 2008 when a larger airport by the same name began operations.