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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.
“The Wash”17 pages
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 already a legendary figure in the Southwest Pacific, was placed in command. Four days later the organization, now based a t Archerfield near Brisbane, was strengthened by the addition of ten officers and ten enlisted men, all of whom had been trained for transport oper- a t i o n ~ . ~ ~T o Gunn's command there were also added three B-24's sent from the United States for service as transports.Z6 Brisbane continued to be the focal point of military activity based on Australia. It was the port of entry for shipments from the United States and it was the headquarters of USAFIA, whose responsibility in January became chiefly that of preparing air units for combat. In addi- tion to unloading and assembling the planes as they arrived from America, providing for such repair and maintenance facilities as proved possible, and improvising training programs suited to the peculiar requirements of the theater, the command at the same time was forced to give its attention to plans for future development and organization. The facilities made available by the Australians a t Am- berley and Archerfield, both outside Brisbane, were seriously inade- quate in view of the expected reinforcements; accordingly, an Allied administrative planning committee early in January authorized the establishment of a depot for the erection of planes a t near-by Eagle Farm. Construction of a runway and hangar facilities there was soon under way, as were also preliminary surveys for extensive construction at Darwin and Townsville."' But these preparations, like the dispatch of reinforcements from the United States, would require time for completion and would be delayed by the necessity of fighting while preparing to fight. Bomber Operations from Java Meanwhile, the Japanese were moving their forces into position for penetration of the Indies. The Second and Third fleets of the Japanese navy, supported by land-based naval air elements, carried the main burden. Most of the Third Fleet, after its success in the Philippine landings, had returned for repair and refueling to Formosa, whence the main body promptly proceeded to Davao in Mindanao for a ren- dezvous with other units from Palau, then moved on to Jolo, an island lying between Mindanao and Borneo, which was reached on or about 6 January. The 23d Air Flotilla of the I Ith Air Fleet had already moved into Jolo before the end of December. The 22d Air Flotilla, 3 76
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