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The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

Air Force Historical Studies Office · 863 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.

  • p. 10 …the major responsibility for coverage of over- seas operations, and in the fall of 1942 he…
  • p. 53 …this department in operations over land and sea, but none offered an acceptable solution to the…
  • p. 58 …Because of the traditional importance of sea power in the national scheme of defense, Mitchell’s…
  • p. 59 …as the tactics of the ground and sea forces,” the board recommended a ten-year expansion…
  • p. 64 …entirely dependable force” for operating a t sea, and the Army, which “with its own air…
  • p. 74 …find a limited career on the high seas beyond the operational radius of aircraft. In 1920…
  • p. 76 …units should be attached to ground and sea forces as auxiliaries.9*But, so long as…
  • p. 83 …the conduct of air operations over the sea in direct defense of the coast”; under certain…
  • p. 86 …Aviation alone cannot pro- tect our merchant marine or our troop movements by sea, but it…
  • p. 96 …certain responsibilities for the protection of coastwise sea lanes. But the Navy’s obligations, in contradistinction…
  • p. 97 …traditionally naval functions as patrol of coastal sea lanes. Placed aboard a carrier, the airplane could…
  • p. 98 …least 2 5 0 miles a t sea, and the importance of developing seaward reconnaissance units…
  • p. 105 …The Navy would provide aircraPt for don, scouting, and patrolling over the sea and for the…
  • p. 107 …It is the only weapon which can engage, with equal facility, land, sea, and other air…
  • p. 108 …a great nation as land power and sea power, and there is no hope for victory…
  • p. 112 …advance of contact either upon land or sea, and that victory can- not but incline to…
  • p. 114 …responsible for coastal defense, convoy protection, and sea and antisubmarine patrols. There was apparently little co…
  • p. 118 …they made relatively little provision for air-sea rescue of highly trained personnel. In the matter…
  • p. 119 …As opposed to land and sea operations, in which the defensive attitude was easier than the…
  • p. 127 …Recon- naissance and sea rescue work also figured in Luftwaffe operations. The badly outnumbered Norwegian air…
  • p. 128 …in combined operations with the land and sea forces.” In keeping with French military traditions, however…
  • p. 133 …Atlantic and in the Irish and North seas. The attempted air blockade achieved a moderate degree…
  • p. 138 …tradi- tional policy of freedom of the seas and which denied to our govern- ment the…
  • p. 154 …Such additions to a com- bination of Japanese, Italian, and German sea forces would have imposed…
  • p. 155 …force to intercept an enemy approaching by sea. The Navy had bit- terly resented Air Corps…
  • p. 157 …the point where it could cover all sea and land areas from which enemy air power…
  • p. 162 …The Caribbean Sea was shaped somewhat in the fashion of a very flat wedge of pie…
  • p. 173 …At the Roosevelt-Churchill conference at sea in mid-August, Generals Marshall and Arnold had made…
  • p. 177 …Near East, India, and the Far East. Sea communications, upon which logistical support of these widely…
  • p. 181 …Hemisphere, support of naval forces in maintaining sea communica- tions, and attacks on enemy shipping within…
  • p. 188 …And to protect the security of bases and the sea lanes which connected them with Amer…
  • p. 198 …and to insure the safety of essential sea communications.'s By the first week of December…
  • p. 199 …Base commander, included inde- pendent action againsr sea, land, and air objectives, support of land and…
  • p. 201 …and aircraft warning outposts fringing the Caribbean Sea." Dis- tributed among the military fields and installations…
  • p. 204 …and against attacks by air, land, and sea forces, while the Navy mission was to support…
  • p. 208 …thorough reconnaissance and observation of the air, sea, and land approaches to the Canal Zone.” Existing…
  • p. 211 …base would put an increased strain on sea com- munications a t a time when shipping…
  • p. 235 …and cargo ships in harbors and at sea, confirming the general assumption that some major move…
  • p. 246 …But as the day advanced the sea had roughened, and approximately fifty planes were smashed in…
  • p. 249 …the enemy fleet returned to the Inland Sea of Japan.17 Japanese officials interviewed after the…
  • p. 257 …a fruitless flight over the South China Sea, where an enemy formation had been From this…
  • p. 259 …Meanwhile, the planes of the 3d Squadron returning from their search over the South China Sea…
  • p. 268 …depots had been “completely ruined.” The submarine Sea Lion had been sunk and other naval craft…
  • p. 282 …and the prospect of breaking through the sea blockade with a naval escort for convoys was…
  • p. 286 …as its southward movement must be by sea, we counted on neutralizing, if not wholly containing…
  • p. 288 …maintenance of designated lines of communication, both sea lanes and air routes; forging and tightening a…
  • p. 323 …This drastic shift in the balance of sea power had exposed the Pacific coast and, in…
  • p. 325 …innocent American freighter which had been at sea without radio communication and had not heard of…
  • p. 326 …by the time-consuming and vulner- able sea route. T w o air routes were available…
  • p. 329 …They were enemy planes! I mean Japanese planes! And they were tracked out to sea. You…
  • p. 332 …a Japanese submarine rose out of the sea off Ellwood, a hamlet on the California coast…
  • p. 333 …though the mysterious object tracked in from sea seems to have vanished. At 0 2 4…
  • p. 348 …on 26 March 1942 to the Eastern Sea Frontier." It was accordingly within the Eastern and…
  • p. 362 …provide for the security of the principal sea routes and seven main air routes over 3…
  • p. 363 …I N C I P A L SEA A N D A I R R O…
  • p. 364 …because the Japanese had cut the only sea and air lanes over which available reinforcements, such…
  • p. 372 …around Africa and up through the Red Sea to Egypt. A large base and an assembly…
  • p. 419 …T h e former was engaged only in long-range over- seas operations, while the latter…
  • p. 433 …a key point in the defense of sea and air routes through the South Pacific, and…
  • p. 435 …an eastern invasion force would move down through the Molucca Sea to occupy Manado, Kendari, and…
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
Command, provided for a group of advanced bases, a series of inter-
mediate airfields, a chain of fields between Anchorage and the United
States, and an extensive aircraft warning system. The first item pro-
voked the greatest amount of discussion among the services respon-
sible for protection of Alaska. The older theory of Alaskan defense
had been centered around the Seward-Anchorage areas, supplemented
by joint Army and Navy defense of naval installations at Kodiak
Island; and control of the North Pacific was naturally regarded as a
task of the Navy, operating from bases at Kodiak and Dutch Harbor.
The latter base, on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians, constituted the
westernmost installation in the area. Protection of Dutch Harbor was
a function of Army air units, and since that protection could not be
furnished without air bases in the vicinity, the Alaska Defense Com-
mand proposed to construct: a field on Umnak Island, sixty-five miles
west of Dutch Harbor. Naval authorities viewed the proposal as
undesirable, for Umnak had no adequate harbor development and
construction of the base would put an increased strain on sea com-
munications a t a time when shipping was at a premium."
There was, however, a cogent reason for development of an airfield
on Umnak, beyond considerations of immediate protection of Dutch
Harbor. Such a base would increase the striking range of Army
bombers, enabling them to command a radius 400 miles greater than
would be possible from such a point as Chignik, on the Alaska Penin-
sula. It was important that any hostile force be intercepted before it
could launch an attack, and it was likewise important that enemy
forces be prevented from establishing bases in the outer Aleutians.
For both contingencies, the existence of an airfield and a long-range
striking force in the Aleutians seemed to be necessary. The Aleutian
Islands comprised steppingstones which could lead in two directions,
and their offensive possibilities for American forces would be nqllified
by a lack of airfields, At the insistence of the Navy Department the
Umnak proposal was referred to the Joint Board of the Army and
Navy, and approval was given on 26 November 1 9 4 1 . ~ ~
The remainder of the air defense program met with little opposi-
tion. Airfield construction was proceeding under the direction of
Army engineers and the Civil Aeronautics Administration, although
in the colder areas of Alaska the work was impeded by arctic condi-
tions. Heavy rainfall, particularly along the southern and western
* See maps, pp. 305, 463.
I 68

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