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
treme shortage of shipping made it uncertain as to when ground crews
and maintenance facilities could be sent, but it was hoped that the
resources of Australia and personnel evacuated from the Philippines
would make it possible to operate the planes “pending the arrival of
necessary maintenance units.” l 8
By early January the plan had been revised to provide only four
pursuit groups in addition to one light, two medium, and two heavy
bombardment groups.19 But such a revision in the over-all objective
was by no means so significant as a general policy of throwing into the
battle for the Netherlands East Indies every available tactical plane
and crew in the hope that, despite the obvious disadvantages under
which they would be required to operate, they would serve to slow up
if not to stop the main Japanese drive. T h e British and American staffs
in Washington remained unshaken in their decision to regard Ger-
many as the first and most dangerous enemy, but as the US. chiefs
pointed out, the continuing advance of the Japanese argued “for sub-
ordinating everything in the immediate future to the necessity for
getting reinforcements into the ABDA Area.” ‘O It proved impossible
to keep the schedule for the ferrying of bombers; but by 6 January, 2 0
B-17’s and 6 LB-3o’s were en route, an additional 45 B-17’s and 9
LB-jo’s were making ready for the take-off, and arrangements were
being made to forward a total of 160 B-17’s and LB-3o’s as rapidly as
they came off the production line.” Hopes for expediting their move-
ment were raised when 3 B-17’s piloted by Maj. Kenneth B. Hobson
and Lts. Jack W. Hughes and Clarence E. McPherson completed the
first flight from Hawaii to Australia by way of the as yet unfinished
South Pacific route by 1 2 January, though until the fall of Java the
Atlantic and African air routes would remain the chief reliance for
reinforcement of the Far East.22T h e total number of p-40’~reaching
Australia from the United States had been raised by 2 5 January to I I t,
and 160 more arrived within the next ten days.23
Meanwhile, the staffs in Washington struggled with the problem of
shipping. T h e heavy bomber could be flown to its battle station half-
way around the world, even though the air routes it followed were
imperfectly charted and prepared and losses in transit up to 2 5 per
cent were a t times sustained, but other planes must be carried by
water. Water transport was required, too, for the ground crews and
other maintenance personnel, for the men and materials required to
construct and maintain bases, for antiaircraft and other ground forces
3 74