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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 B A T T L E L I N E IN T H E P A C I F I C move the 68th Pursuit Squadron to Au~tralia,~and on 17 February the 68th sailed from San Francisco. Again there was a shift in policy. On 2 8 January the AAF agreed to furnish the pursuit squadron for New Caledonia but clung to the original conviction that the bombardment garrison should be supplied by the British and/or the Australians." A subsequent conference with the Royal Air Force representative on 1 5 February indicated the im- probability of British capacity to stock New Caledonia with aircraft of any kind, and the entire matter was passed on to the Combined Staff Planners for further study on I March 194z.l~ Defense of New Caledonia alone was not enough to assure the integrity of the South Pacific. Clear across the Pacific extending back to Hawaii were islands whose defense was vital to the ferry route. By 20 January 1942, plans and preparations had advanced to the point where some units already were en route to their island bases while others were under orders awaiting transfer from continental stations. So urgent was the Pacific situation that the task force being prepared for Australia assumed top priority, while that for the Pacific islands (FIVE ISLANDS) ranked second in importance, with the forces being prepared for European theaters following after.'* Task Force FIVE ISLANDS carried the basic air units for garrisoning the South Pacific islands, and these were as follows: ( I ) Fiji, to which the 70th Pursuit Squadron was en route; ( 2 ) Canton, to which the 68th Pursuit Squadron was assigned, but which it would never reach, going from Australia to Tongatabu; ( 3 ) Christmas, assigned the I zth Pursuit Squadron; (4) New Caledonia, whose 67th Pursuit Squadron originally had been directed to Australia; and (5) Palmyra, for which the 69th Pursuit Squadron had been earmarked. Necessary ground services were allotted for each of the units, and in preparing them for shipment, General Arnold directed that they be afforded a high priority, both for personnel and eq~ipment.'~ By February, sufficient air units had arrived a t their stations across the Pacific to offer some opposition to a Japanese attack. None of the bases was in a position to offer stout prolonged resistance, but the ferry route no longer lay defenseless. Fiji, a vital link in the chain, now had one pursuit squadron, the 7oth, which had debarked at Suva on 29 January, although the first of its 2 5 P-39's was not assembled until 9 February. In addition to the P-39's of this squadron, the Royal New Zealand Air Force operated 18 Hudsons a t Fiji in a squadron 43 1
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