Shamshernagar Airport

Shamshernagar Airport (IATA: ZHM, ICAO: VGSH) is a public use airport 17 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of Moulvibazar, Bangladesh. It is operated by Bangladesh Air Force for military purpose. Due to the short length of the runway it is restricted to STOL aircraft. As of July 2015, no scheduled passenger flights serve the airport, but civil air operations are allowed with prior approval.[3][4]

Shamshernagar Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCAAB
ServesMoulvibazar & Srimangal
LocationBangladesh
Elevation AMSL58 ft / 18 m
Coordinates24°23′53.7″N 91°55′1.0″E
Map
VGSH is located in Bangladesh
VGSH
VGSH
Location of Shamshernagar Airport in Bangladesh
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 5,200 1,585 Concrete
Source: Landings.com[1][2]

During WWII, Shamshernagar was a major hub for flights “Over the Hump” from what was then British India to China.[5] The flights were dangerous, as on March 11, 1945, when a C-109 cargo plane departed Shamshernager for Chengdu, China and soon disappeared.[6] Material stockpiled by the US at Shamshernager (but never used) included chemical weapons, specifically 18 rail wagon loads of 1000-pound bombs filled with cyanogen chloride.[7] The U.S. 61st Air Service Group was based at Shamshernagar in the final months of World War II.[8]

On 31 December 1970, a Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 of Pakistan International Airlines on approach to Shamshernagar crash-landed short of the runway, turned over to the right, and burned. Seven of the 31 passengers on board died.[9]

According to East Pakistan Air Operations, 1971, during the Bangladesh Liberation War, Shamshernagar was the base of the first fighting formation of what would become the Bangladesh Air Force: a DC-3 Dakota, a DHC-3 Otter, and an Alouette III helicopter together known as Kilo Force.

According to CAAB, currently airlines do not serve Shamshernagar because demand is too low for a route to be commercially viable without smaller aircraft than those the airlines operate. The Independent reported a senior CAAB official as saying, "If the airlines are not interested in using our airports, we can't force them to." The same official said a government subsidy could convince airlines to use Shamshernagar. As it is now, airport staff are paid without having to work.[10]

Airlines and destination

Currently there are no scheduled flights operated by any airlines.

See also

References
  1. Airport record for Shamshernagar Airport at Landings.com. Retrieved 2013-08-08
  2. Google (2013-08-08). "location of Shamshernagar Airport" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  3. "VGSH AD 2-1" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  4. "Airports in Bangladesh". Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  5. Grove, J. Irving. "Memoirs of the World War II at Shamshernagar Airport: an US Veteran". moulvibazar.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  6. US National Archives. "Missing Air Crew Report number 12990". Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  7. Royle, George R. "771st Chemical Depot Company, Organizational History Report for August 1945" (PDF). HoosierScientist.com. Archives of the Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  8. U.S. Air Force Historical Division (1953). Craven, Wesley Frank; Care, James Lea (eds.). The Army Air Forces In World War II. The University of Chicago Press. p. 181. A photo of the unit with the C-47 Regina the Queen at the base in August 1945 can be found here.
  9. "Aircraft accident Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 AP-AUV Shamshernagar Airport (ZHM)". Aviation Safety Network.
  10. Rahman, SM Mizanur (18 August 2014). "Domestic airports lie unused". The Independent. Dhaka.



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