The CAMCO factory and airfield at A Japanese perspective on the battle of Loiwing

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The CAMCO facilities at Loiwing

Independently of Hak Hakanson in Thailand, two Chinese-Canadians -- Min Wang and his wife, Min Lu -- went on a search for the CAMCO factory at Loiwing, where Min Lu's father once worked. He was Ziwei Lu, who in 1939 at the age of twenty went to work for the Pawley brothers at Loiwing, remaining there until the plant was abandoned to the Japanese in the spring of 1942.

Among the treasures they found was a hand-drawn map by two brothers, Tang Yixin and Tang Youxin, who as youngsters had roamed around the CAMCO factory and airfield where their father worked. They drew the map below from memory; it's not to scale, and the orientation is slightly off. The airfield, for example, is 800 meters long, and its western end is about 500 meters from the river, not close to it as shown on the map. And rather than running due east (heading 9/27), the field's its orientation is more nearly east-northeast (heading 7/29). But I think we can rely on their reconstruction of Loiwing's buildings and layout. The red numerals were added by Min Wang and Min Lu, and beneath the drawing is their translation of the Tang brothers' map legends.

For more about the CAMCO airfield, go here and here.

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