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

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
plete. Out of a projected 240 modern pursuit planes for the Far East
Air Force, only 107 P-40’s had arrived; and instead of the planned
total of I 65 modern heavy bombers, the air force had 3 5 B- I 7C’s and
D’s. The 27th Bombardment Group, which had been in the Philippines
since 2 0 November, was still awaiting the arrival of its 5 2 A-q’s,
which were en route in a convoy of seven vessels escorted by the
USS Pensmola.1‘2 The ships were loaded to capacity with materiel and
troops for General MacArthur’s command. In addition to the A-zq’s,
the vessels carried I 8 P-40’s and much heavy equipment, supplies, and
fuel, including 340 motor vehicles, four dozen 75-mm. guns, more
than 3,500,000 rounds of ammunition, over 600 tons of bombs, and
9,000 drums of aviation fuel. Approximately 2,500 officers and men of
the AAF, including the ground echelon of the 7th Bombardment
Group, and some 2 , 0 0 0 additional troops, including 2 regiments of
field artillery, were on board the vessels. Directed by “higher au-
thority” to take a southwest course instead of the normal course
through the Japanese-mandated islands, the convoy had swung south
from Honolulu after the last ship joined the group on 29 November.
On 6 December, after crossing the equator, the convoy was still a
considerable distance from its de~tination.“~Farther north, a t ap-
proximately 500 miles out from San Francisco, the Garfield and John-
son were en route to the Philippines with the remaining squadrons of
the 35th Pursuit Group and a number of other units and stores of
supplies and equipment.’‘* O n the same day, 6 December, the 557th
Aircraft Warning Battalion arrived a t the San Francisco port of em-
barkation for shipment to the Philippines. But the course of events
did not allow any of these reinforcements to reach their original desti-
nation.
From Hawaii on 6 December General Short sent a message of re-
assurance to General Arnold regarding preparations along the South
Pacific air route, declaring that “we are striving very hard to make
good our promise of having one runway a t all fields so that we can use
the route by I 5 January.” Work was proceeding at an accelerated
rate on Canton, Christmas, Suva in the Fiji Islands, and New Cale-
donia; and inasmuch as no hop was greater than 1,250 statute miles,
General Short felt that upon completion the route would be satis-
factory for medium as well as heavy bombers, a point that had become
a matter of concern by the first week in December. T o the problem
of early completion there now had been added a new concern for the
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