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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.
“King”32 pages
T H E D E F E N S E O F A U S T R A L I A Group had moved into Port Moresby by 30 April and that afternoon thirteen of the twenty-six Cobras which had come in carried out their first mission. Under the leadership of Lt. Col. Boyd D. Wagner, they accomplished a thorough strafing of grounded planes and fuel dumps at Lae and Salamaua, an action which was followed by a brisk en- gagement with enemy fighter^.'^ Six A-24’s of the 8th Bombardment Squadron had led a movement of AAF dive bombers into Port Moresby a month earlier on 31 March. The B-25’~of the 3d Group had begun operations against New Guinea targets early in April, as also had the B-26’s of the 22d Group.58 Important patrol and reconnaissance duties assumed both by mediums and heavies cut down substantially the scale of bombing operations, for the AAF planes had become a principal reliance for intelligence of the enemy’s movements and intentions. All bomber units equipped with planes shared in the effort, but special notice is due the 8th Photographic Squadron and the 435th Bombardment Squadron. AAF Headquarters had been prompt to recognize the need for properly equipped photographic squadrons, and shortly after the outbreak of war roo P-38’s had been set aside for necessary modifica- tion. A training program had been inaugurated at Colorado Springs, and the first unit ready for operation was assigned to Australia. Flight “A’ of the 8th Photographic Squadron arrived there on 7 April, and nine days later had gone into operation with its four F-4’s (P-38E’s modified by the installation of cameras and two additional 75-gallon tanks) under command of Capt. Karl P01ifka.~’The most conspicuous services were provided, however, by the 43 5th, which formerly had been the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group. Anticipating the assignment of photographic groups to all theaters, the AAF on 9 April directed the redesignation of all existing reconnaissance squadrons as bombardment units, and under this pro- vision the 40th became the 435th Bombardment Squadron.60 But it continued to serve, with assistance from other units, for reconnais- sance of the New Guinea, New Britain, and Solomons areas. And when the Japanese moved out in early May for an attack by sea on Port Moresby, AAF units contributed to the frustration of their pur- pose perhaps chiefly through the reconnaissance they provided. By that time, the final entry had been made in the long record of AAF flights from Australia to the Philippines. The last successful flight for the evacuation of personnel had been made in a B-24 piloted 425
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