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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.
“Pacific Ocean”16 pages
L O S S O F N E T H E R L A N D S E A S T I N D I E S On that same day the enemy imposed on the Allies a crushing defeat a t Darwin, at the other end of the ferry route. Four of his carriers, after moving south from Palau, had waited several days near Amboina for the hour to Allied intelligence was not without some ~ a r n i n g , ' ~and since I 5 February the newly activated 3 3d Pur- suit Squadron had been flying patrol over the waters northwest of Darwin. O n 19 February, however, its planes had been scheduled for an attempt to get through to Java. In fact, ten of the p-40'~had taken off for Koepang at approximately 0900, but when they were about half an hour out of Darwin a weather report from Timor proved so unpromising that the planes turned back. On their return, Major Pell led one flight of five planes in for a landing at the RAAF field, having left the other five for patrol above.80Just at this point, warning came through of Japanese aircraft approaching Bathurst Island, some fifty miles away to the northwest, and before further details could be secured the radio frequency was jammed. Major Pell immediately led his flight back into the air, and a t approximately 1000 an enemy force of more than fifty bombers escorted by fighters struck in an unex- pected approach from the south.'l T o oppose this overwhelming force there were only the 33d's pathetically few P-407S, which one after another were shot down. Major Pell was killed when forced to bail out of his plane a t approxi- mately seventy feet. Lts. Charles W. Hughes, Jack R. Peres, and Elton S. Perry also lost their lives, while Lts. John G. Glover, Max R. Wiecks, Robert F. McMahon, Burt H. Rice, and William R. Walker safely parachuted from riddled planes. Only Lt. Robert G. Oestreicher managed to bring in his bullet-punctured P-40 to a normal landing.*' Having thus destroyed the American interceptors in the first strike, the enemy returned two hours later with another and equally large formation which carried through its bombing runs virtually without opposition. The total cost to the enemy could not have exceeded ten planes shot down, and may have been considerably less. On the other hand, the Allies had lost, in addition to the nine P-40's destroyed in the air, two more P-qo's, six Hudsons, and one LB-30 on the ground. RAAF facilities and the commercial airport had been badly hit. Even more serious was the damage done to shipping and harbor facilities. Three American ships-the destroyer Peary, the transport Meigs, and the merchantman Maunn Lou-and as many other Allied vessels had been sunk. Eight more vessels sustained serious 393
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