The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Kharagpur (87.31E 22.34N) is an important railroad center with significant industry. The English founder of Calcutta, Job Charnock, defeated the Moguls here in 1687.
The city became the first headquarters of 20 Bomber Command, the B-29 force, in the spring of 1943. Facilities included a fuel pipeline to Calcutta and four airfields with concrete runways in the area (at Kharagpur [87.290E 22.272N], Chakulia [86.711E 22.466N], Piardoba [87.322E 22.957N], and Dudhkundi [87.107E 22.325N], with an additional transport field at Kalaikunda [87.213E 22.339N]). These became operational in June 1944. Aircraft from the Kharagpur fields staged through Chengtu to targets in Japan and Manchuria, an approach which eventually proved logistically unsustainable.
References
Craven and Cate (1952; accessed 2012-7-7)
Romanus and Sunderland (1954; accessed 2012-7-7)
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