“Nevers”44 pages
- p. 43 …cavalry mounted on gas driven flying horses” never arrived to
“sweep the Germans from the sky…
- p. 46 …Mitchell never received an American air force commensurate with
the ambitious idens of air power which…
- p. 49 …This project, like so many others, had lagged, and the Air Service was
never equipped during…
- p. 50 …the Army or the Air Corps?” but never, “Are
you in the Army or the Corps…
- p. 55 …any Air Service officers, and I have never heard
anybody yet-any Air Service officer-against…
- p. 69 …But one axiom,
with its corollaries, never varied. T o him the airplane was first and…
- p. 75 …Powerful air attacks resolutely pressed home could never be
completely stopped, but their effects could best…
- p. 94 …rate for the time being, the decision never-
theless left an open question as to how…
- p. 121 …large-scale warfare; production of combat types never exceeded 300
aircraft a month. The pattern of…
- p. 122 …the German Air Force, the
Regia Aeronautica never exhibited sufficient power to be decisive in
the…
- p. 133 …Except for a few raids against French
factories, the force had never been employed in a…
- p. 140 …into
a complete war economy production was never equal to the demands
of our own forces…
- p. 150 …Long-term needs
of the Air Corps and the sudden availability of funds in quantities
never…
- p. 181 …Actually, the Air Staff had
never approved of the method followed in RAINBOW No. 5 . l…
- p. 217 …Members of the Hawaiian Air Force, who had never flown
heavy bombers, began to receive intensive…
- p. 219 …were not then satisfactory for permanent garrisons. Never-
theless, the commander of the Hawaiian Department, Lt…
- p. 227 …T h e planes never reached their destination. Other
bombardment units were being prepared for transfer…
- p. 241 …responsible officers, a few crucial points
have never been satisfactorily explained.
T h e general pattern…
- p. 277 …motors, sole-
noids, and gun mounts-were never found. After many hours of fruit-
less search…
- p. 288 …planners and
from which AAF Headquarters was never to deviate.
The translation of the accepted grand…
- p. 303 …the principal features of the plan
were never challenged, it was subsequently revised in a draft…
- p. 309 …W a r Plans Division was
never incorporated into GHQ and remained a potential rival to…
- p. 336 …the shooting and wrote that they were never
able to make out an airplane.g6It is…
- p. 412 …As it happened, the B-24's never
returned to India, but, instead, remained in the…
- p. 457 …Meanwhile the Edsall with the remaining
pilots had headed for Java, never to be heard from…
- p. 492 …Squadron was assigned, but which it would never reach, going from
Australia to Tongatabu; ( 3 ) Christmas…
- p. 500 …deck of a carrier presented a problem never
before challenged by Army planes. Hence an accelerated…
- p. 502 …the bows and wetting the flight deck. Never before had this been
accomplished, yet now it…
- p. 509 …Island, in the
Louisiade Archipelago.” They were never needed, for on 7-8 May
the two…
- p. 513 …exist, it was at a point which never reached the
aircrews, for on the operational level…
- p. 524 …handicaps under which
AAF planes had operated. Never were more than fourteen B- I 7’s…
- p. 527 …AAF planners clung firmly to their belief that
proper observance of economy of force would never…
- p. 531 …Crews which had
previously never loaded torpedoes now for the first time fitted these
weapons into…
- p. 544 …But the Japanese never at
any time based their bombers in appreciable numbers a t either…
- p. 548 …26's in torpedo-dropping, but they never would be put into
All told, the record…
- p. 556 …until it had been thoroughly trained and never to com-
mit it piecemeal. General Magruder had…
- p. 560 …pressed into service against the Germans," and never reached the
CBI." Colonel Haynes had reached India…
- p. 606 …reason that the Antilles Air Task Force
never evolved, as did I Bomber Command, into an…
- p. 614 …that reason deserving a high
priority, could never dispose of the U-boat menace but must…
- p. 635 …In Washington the Munitions Assign-
ments Board t had never considered this schedule as more than…
- p. 670 …they bombed from 39,200 feet, and never
below 30,000. By AAF standards they had…
- p. 672 …Goering had never put enough bombers over England,
nor had he concentrated his forces on the…
- p. 690 …of co-operation and combined action probably never
before equaled by the military forces of two…
- p. 729 …shoot at aerial targets, and several
had never operated a turret in the air. This deficiency…
T H E D E F E N S E O F A U S T R A L I A
that to maintain a defensive position in Australia called not so much
for a new allocation of air strength as rather for the building up and
preparation of air forces already allocated to the area. Earlier plans
for the reinforcement of the Philippines and the desperate hope of
halting the Japanese advance through the Netherlands East Indies had
given Australia, as the base in support of both operations, a high
priority in the allocation of available men and planes. T h e South
Pacific route would have to be strengthened, but no addition was
made to an earlier commitment to the Southwest Pacific of one light,
two medium, and two heavy bombardment groups and of four pur-
suit groups. Indeed, the forces assigned to Australia would receive
additional responsibilities for the security of the South Pacific route;
and in March, General Brett received word that instead of four pur-
suit groups he might expect a total of only three.17 In command once
more of United States Army Forces in Australia, General Brett had
stated his needs at no less than six pursuit groups and three light, three
medium, and three heavy bombardment groups, to which he added
three transport groups.l8 But like other field commanders at this time,
he would have to do with less than he felt the situation required.
At the time MacArthur arrived from the Philippines, General Brett,
with a staff headed by General Barnes as deputy commander, was
engaged in an effort to prepare and deploy his forces for defense of
Australia. It was Brett’s feeling that air units must be stationed in each
of seven widely separated areas having their centers a t Darwin,
Townsville, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Sydney.”
T h e position of chief of the air staff was held by Brig. Gen. Ralph
Royce, who had reached Java during the closing phase of operations
there.’O American strength in the air was composed chiefly of pursuit
planes. Although organized units considered ready for combat were as
yet few, there had arrived in Australia between 2 3 December 1941
and 18 March 1942 a total of 337 P-~o’s,more than I O O P-~oo’s,’ and
90 P-39’s. Of these planes, approximately 125 had been lost to enemy
action during the Java campaign, others had been lost by accident, 75
had been turned over to the RAAF, 74 were under repair or awaiting
repair, and approximately I 00 awaited complete assembly. O n I 8
March there were 33 P-39’s, 92 P-~o’s,and 5 2 P-400’s in commis-
sion.*’ T h e last of the three pursuit groups assigned to Australia,
gun in the nose instead of the 37-mm.
* An early export model of the P-39 with inferior characteristics, including a zo-mm.
4’ 1