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
Middle East. Water shipment of the fifty P-40E Kittyhawks con-
signed to the American Volunteer Group began in February. Arrange-
ments were made for use of the British assembly plant a t Takoradi,
where the planes were prepared for the overland movement. Losses
were suffered en route, but by June most of the original fifty
had crossed into China.lo7A larger movement of sixty-eight P-4oE’s
for India and China began as the AVG deliveries were being com-
pleted. Comprising one element of a general reinforcement of the
Tenth Air Force, the P-40’s were flown to Quonset Point, Rhode
Island, in late April and there aircraft and crews were loaded on the
carrier Ranger. As the Ranger approached the west coast of Africa,
the fighters were launched at distances of 1 2 5 to 2 5 miles from the
landing field a t Accra. Although only a few of the pilots had pre-
viously flown from the deck of a carrier, all took off safely and landed
without mishap. But they were less fortunate in crossing central
Africa. T w o of the eight-plane convoys into which the P-40’S were
organized became lost over the African desert because of navigational
errors. As a result, nine of the fighters cracked up. Other difficulties
were encountered and numerous delays experienced; perhaps no more
than fifty-eight of the planes eventually reached India.’ Karachi had
become, generally speaking, the terminal point for Ferrying Com-
mand operations to the East, and until December 1942 the responsi-
bility for development of the trans-India service into China fell to
the 1st Ferrying Group and thus came under the jurisdiction of the
Tenth Air Force.*
Twin-engine transport planes were the only aircraft to be ferried
to British forces in Africa during the first six months of 1942. In June,
when Rommel’s offensive reached its most threatening stage, the first
tactical aircraft began to arrive. They were not in sufficient number
to be of much help in stopping Rommel at El Alamein, but during
the late summer and fall an increasing flow of twin-engine bombers
departed from Florida to become a part of the great movement of
supplies into Africa in preparation for Montgomery’s offensive in
October. Between June and the end of the year, 398 Lockheed and
Martin medium bombers-including I 2 0 B-34’s, I 53 A-28’~,45 B-26’s,
and 80 A-3o’s-were ferried to British forces in Africa by crews of Pan
American Air Ferries or by American and British military crews.loQ
At the same time, the forces gathering under the leadership of General
* See below, Chap. 14.
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