Xinjin Airport Xinjin Airport is an airport in Xinjin County , in the southwestern part of the Chengdu metropolitan area ( " prefecture - level city " ) in Sichuan province in the People ' s Republic of China . The airfield is located approximately 2 km east of the Xinjin County seat , just east of the 108 National Road . It is currently used by Civil Aviation Flight University of China for pilot training . History . The airfield was first constructed in 1928 , and upgraded during World War II , first in 1940 and then in 1943 . The facility was used by the United States Army Air Force XX Bomber Command beginning in March 1944 . It was known as Hsinching Airfield ( A - 1 ) , and was the forward staging base for the 40th Bombardment Group , which carried out B - 29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese Home Islands . It was one of four B - 29 bases established by the Americans in China . Staging through Hsinching from its base at Chakulia , India , on June 15 the group participated in the first American Air Force attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the Doolittle raid in 1942 . Operating from bases in India , and at times staging through fields in China , the group struck such targets as transportation centers , naval installations , iron works , and aircraft plants in Burma , Thailand , China , Japan , Indonesia , and Formosa , receiving a Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing iron and steel works at Yawata , Japan , on August 20 , 1944 . Effective 6 April 1944 , Hsinching Airfield was also the forward headquarters of XX Bomber Command while its rear echelon remained at Kharagpur Airfield in India . When the B - 29 bombers were moved from India in February 1945 to the newly captured bases in the Mariana Islands , the B - 29 use of Hsinching Airfield ended . The Tenth Air Force 24th Combat Mapping Squadron established a detachment at the airfield in March 1944 to photograph bombing targets both before and after XX Bomber Command missions . In December 1944 , the unit was replaced by Flight " C " , 1st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron ( Very Long Range ) , which remained until May 1945 . From 2nd WRS Squadron History obtained from Air Force Historical Research Agency At the request of the XX Bomber Command , preparations for sending a 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flight to China began during the latter part of November ( 1944 ) . It was decided that " C " Flight , with Capt Jean W Dixon as flight commander would undertake the initial assignment in the forward area . The flight consisted of Capt Dixon and crew , 1st Lt Joseph Shannon and crew , and 1st Lt James R Malin and crew with B - 25D aircraft nos . 673 , 674 and 675 . On 22 November , key ground personnel of " C " flight arrived at Hsing Ching Army Air Base , while the squadron aircraft arrived 25 November . " C " flight operations were so arranged as to provide weather recon of the North China sectors several days prior to the first B - 29 raid in each of the series of missions run by the XX Bomber Command from the Chengtu area . Recon to the North continued a day prior to the actual running of the B - 29 missions . Our aircraft provided a route weather coverage within a radius of action , with particular attention given to icing conditions , cloud levels , and turbulence and winds , together with a visual check of the predetermined redezvous area . Also the Fourteenth Air Force 1st Combat Cargo Squadron performed special operation cargo drops from the airfield during the spring ( January - Mar ) 1945 with C - 47s . The Americans used the airfield as a communications station for the remainder of the war , and turned over the airfield to the Chinese government on 29 August 1945 .