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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.
“Hamilton”9 pages
D E P L O Y M E N T O N T H E E V E O F H O S T I L I T I E S mum facilities on Christmas and Canton islands, as well as in the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, and Australia, by I 5 January I 942.* It devel- oped that the Navy could not offer assistance in construction until after completion of its own projects; the Hawaiian Department there- fore was dependent upon whatever shipping and construction forces the Army could provide. Results of initial investigations showed that at least one 5,000-foot runway in the direction of the prevailing wind could be prepared by 1 5 January 1942 at four sites: Christmas, Canton, Suva in the Fiji Islands, and Townsville on the east coast of Australia. By the first week in November the required diplomatic clearances had been received, along with assurances of co-operation from the several governments. In New Caledonia, where Australian forces were making defense preparations with the permission of the Free French, representatives of the Hawaiian Department negotiated with Australian authorities for improvement of airfields which could be used on the South Pacific route. This action resulted in provision of the necessary staging point between the Fiji Islands and the continent of Australia. Responsibility for development of the route from Australia to the Philippines was vested on 2 7 October in the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East. General MacArthur had already initiated surveys of air facilities along that portion of the route and had established con- tacts with the senior British and Netherlands East Indies authorities. T h e Hawaiian Department commander continued to direct the devel- opment of the ferry route east of Australia. Chartering all the available tugs and barges in the vicinity of Oahu, Army engineers moved con- struction equipment, personnel, and their own water supply to Canton and Christmas, while the Hawaiian Department secured the services of a commercial engineering company for other points along the route. N e w Zealand officials, who had agreed to improve an airfield at Nandi in the Fiji Islands, made available all the equipment they could gather for the Pending completion of the South Pacific route, heavy bombers destined for the Philippines continued to use the route via Midway and Wake. T h e presence of Japanese air units in the Caroline and Marshall islands constituted a threat both to the Midway and Wake bases and to American aircraft in flight; but defending naval forces were ordered to take special precautions a t the two bases, and heavy bomber crews * See map, p. 429, 181
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