Documents / Document

The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

Air Force Historical Studies Office · 863 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 12 …T h e term “first narrative,” bor- rowed from the RAF, was frequently used to describe…
  • p. 16 …history would constitute a lifetime assignment-the RAF’s history of World W a r I…
  • p. 47 …being made up of aircraft from the RAF’s Independent Force, the whole of the French…
  • p. 48 …early 1917.O n 6 June 1918the RAF’s Independent Force had been established with its…
  • p. 53 …Most radical was the independent air force, usually drawing heavily upon the RAF and its Air…
  • p. 114 …I when a British mission of retired RAF officers and others arrived in Japan to assist…
  • p. 127 …At Dunkirk the Luftwaff e momentarily yielded supremacy to the RAF, which was able to gain…
  • p. 128 …After French surrender on 2 2 June, only the RAF remained for the Luftwaffe to conquer…
  • p. 129 …T h e RAF and the Battle of Britain The German bombing of Britain in World…
  • p. 130 …The RAF retained its autonomy; but, even so, sentiment for many years, like that in the…
  • p. 131 …it was hoped that the badly ournumbered RAF would be able to hold off any German…
  • p. 132 …By the end of September the RAF had asserred its control of the air over rhe…
  • p. 133 …It will take no credit from the RAF’s outnumbered “few” to sug- gest that the…
  • p. 136 …Operations of the RAF after the fall of 1940 were as widely dis- persed as were…
  • p. 137 …on strategic bombardment, would find in the RAF a stout and under- standing ally. It is…
  • p. 171 …British requirements amounted to 49,385 planes, including first-line strength and wastage for the RAF…
  • p. 186 …with fresh data and a familiarity with RAF experience. Actual authorship of a military document is…
  • p. 290 …to prewar plans, was to join the RAF in the attack on Germany. This project was…
  • p. 338 …Fortunately, the RAF, magnificently served by such advisers as Robert Watson-Watt, rapidly went beyond the…
  • p. 341 …enjoyed through the co-operation of the RAF unusual opportunities to com- pare results with those…
  • p. 343 …United States military mission in London, the RAF offered the services of Robert Watson-Watt, Scientific…
  • p. 369 …The majority of the Hudsons were delivered a t Montreal to the RAF Ferry Com- mand…
  • p. 391 …of its production was required by the RAF to meet current operational commitments. The gasoline had…
  • p. 398 …an initial mission to participate with the RAF in the bombardment of Germany. Questions remained regarding…
  • p. 404 …air force personnel were concentrated at the RAF base a t Reykjavik, occupying facilities on the…
  • p. 553 …of models considered obsolescent for AAF and RAF needs, and cadres of American pilots and ground…
  • p. 555 …were considered obsolescent by the AAF and RAF) previously allocated to Sweden were released for the…
  • p. 556 …in addition to collaboration with a small RAF contingent in defense of Rangoon, he provided patrol…
  • p. 557 …Even when the enemy after his first experience sought to wipe out the RAF and A…
  • p. 565 …General Naiden’s survey indicated that the normal run should be between the RAF base a…
  • p. 566 …Unable to challenge seriously the enemy’s supremacy in the air, meager RAF and A V…
  • p. 568 …May, the bombers struck at Mingaladon, former RAF airdrome near Rangoon which the Japanese were using…
  • p. 570 …fensive efforts between the Tenth and the RAF, and on 1 5 April the War Department…
  • p. 571 …Accordingly, on 24 May the order committing the Tenth Air Force to operations under RAF supervision…
  • p. 609 …It also reflected the profound influence exerted by the RAF Coastal Command on AAF thinking. That…
  • p. 610 …Fleet Air Arm by creating a special RAF command, equipped and trained for sea search and…
  • p. 614 …control in terms comparable to those governing RAF Coastal Command. Almost from the beginning, the question…
  • p. 615 …it had been the experience of the RAF “that a purely defensive policy only leads to…
  • p. 619 …On the tactical side, valuable assistance was obtained from an experienced RAF crew which flew two…
  • p. 626 …bomber crews flying borrowed Bostons in an RAF routine sweep against enemy airfields." During the seven…
  • p. 628 …current allocation of heavy bombers to the RAF.6 N o immediate cut was contemplated; and…
  • p. 630 …was suggested that for the present the RAF would assume sole responsibility for the air offensive…
  • p. 633 …the conduct in co-operation with the RAF of an offensive against western Europe in 1942…
  • p. 634 …T o the Air Staff, as to RAF Bomber Command, the bomber offensive had figured as…
  • p. 635 …Now that the SLEDGEHAMMERJROUNDUP strategy had been accepted, the RAF wanted the United States to increase…
  • p. 636 …the British desire for reinforcement of the Middle East; the RAF Coastal Command’s request for…
  • p. 637 …I ) allocate to Great Britain for the RAF and Dominion air forces aircraft according to an…
  • p. 647 …TRIGGER, a plan to set up in America, with RAF aid, a model air defense sector…
  • p. 648 …important fea- tures were borrowed from the RAF. H e proposed to effect a sharp cleavage…
  • p. 649 …Because AAF bombers would have the special mission, in co-operation with the RAF, of attacking…
  • p. 653 …Chaney must provide for their operational control with- out recourse to the RAF. Chaney’s immediate…
  • p. 656 …forces and the RAF, provision must be made for two chains of command-that of the…
  • p. 657 …i.e., Eighth Air Force = RAF; VIII Bomber Command = RAF Bomber Command) ; and while it provided…
  • p. 659 …Under these conditions, relations with RAF Bomber Command were more important for the Eighth Air Force…
  • p. 660 …ning for the bomber offensive with the RAF. Daylight or Dark? As an argument in favor…
  • p. 661 …weapons are the Russian army and the RAF.” 1 5 5 It is significant that this…
  • p. 662 …Critics complained of the RAF’s failure to provide adequate close support for ground operations in…
  • p. 663 …Messages from that office cast doubts upon the results of the RAF bomber offensive and criticized…
  • p. 664 …When in 1941 the two air staffs began planning their combined attack on Germany, the RAF…
  • p. 665 …Even before the war, RAF preference had run to night tactics for strategic bombardment, an attitude…
N O T E S T O P A G E S 1 9 7 - 2 0 3
describes the attack as having been made
in three waves rather than two. The
operations order and interrogation of
participating personnel indicate that the
actual attack was launched in two waves.
(See Hem-ngs . .. Pearl Harbor Attack,
Pt. 13, Exh. 8-B, 420-22 and Exh. 8-C,
4 ~ 6 2 7 ; USSBS herrogations I 13 and
603.) The R e p o r t . . .Pearl Harbor At-
tack, p. 58, gives a slightly different
breakdown of the number of planes ern-
ployed, with the following totals: 81
fighters, 135 dive bombers, 104 horizontal
bombers, and 40 torpedo planes.
5 . R e p o r t . . .Pearl Harbor Attack,
pp. 138-40; Walter Karig et al., Battle
Report (New York, 1944)~I, 12-17; ltr.,
Brig. Gen. H.C. Davidson to CG Hawai-
ian Air Force, 18 Dec. 1941, in History,
VII Fighter Command; AAF Historical
Study No. 41, Operational History of the
Seventh Air Force, 7 Dec. 1941-6 Nov.
1943.
6. Battle Report, pp. 28-38; USSBS
Intrs. 65, 113, and 479.
7. R e p o r t . ..Pearl Harbor Attack,
pp. 64, 69. See also Battle Report, pp. 93-
96 and Plate XV. The additional loss of
five incoming planes from the carrier
Enterprise brought the total loss of naval
aircraft to ninety-two, and to this figure
were added at least thirty planes badly
damaged.
8. R e p o r t . . .Pearl Harbor Attack, p.
62; AAFHS-41.
9. AAFHS-41.
10. Zbid.; ltr., Gen. Davidson to C G
Hawaiian Air Force, 18 Dec. 1941. See
also citations of the pilots mentioned.
1 1 . Records of tel. conversations in
Fourth Air Force Historical Study IV-I,
Processing and Ferrying Functions, 1941,
Vol. 11, Docs. 42-66; Histories, 19th
Bomb. Gp. and 435th Bomb. Sq.; 435th
[Bomb. Sq.1 Overseas.
12. AAFHS-41, especially App. 3,
W a r Diary kept by A-3, Hawaiian Air
Force, 7-31 Dec. 1941.
13. R e p o r t . . .Pearl Harbor Attack,
p. 141.
14. USSBS Intrs. 65, 113, and 479;
Hearings.. .Pearl Harbor Attack, Pt. 13,
Exh. 8 4 , 426-27.
686
15. Memo for Roberts Commission
by Hq. Hawaiian Air Force, 26 Dec.
1941, in AAFHS-41, App. z. See also p.
6. R e p o r t . . .Pearl Harbor Attack, p. 65,
states: “A total of 96 Army planes were
lost as a result of enemy action, this fig-
ure including aircraft destroyed in depots
and those damaged planes which were
subsequently stripped for parts.”
16. AAFHS-41, pp. 5-6; Hearings.. .
Pearl Harbor Attack, Pt. 1 2 , 325, lists
Army casualties as follows: killed in ac-
tion 194, wounded in action 360, missing
in action 2 2 , died nonbattle 2 , declared
dead I, and died of wounds 2 1 , for a
total of 600.
17. USSBS Intrs. 113 and 603; Report
...Pearl Harbor Attack, p. 64, suggests
that the presence of US. Naval Task
Force I Z south of Midway was probably
the deciding factor.
18. USSBS Intrs. 503, Vice Adm.
Shigeru Fukudome, 9 Dec. 1945; 424,
Capt. Bunzo Shibata, 18 Nov. 1945; and
74, Capt. Chihaya Takahashi, 20 Oct.
‘945.
19. USSBS Intr. 74, Capt. Chihaya
Takahashi, 20 Oct. 1945; USSBS, Sum-
mary Report (Pacific W a r ) , I July 1946.
20. 1st ind. (ltr., Chief, AAF His-
torical Office to C G Third Air Force,
30 Jan. 1946), Brereton to Paul; History,
Fifth Air Force and Its Predecessors, Pt.
I, Dec. 1941-Aug. 1942, 8-9.
2 1 . History, Fifth Air Force, Pt. I ,
Dec. 1941-Aug. 1942, pp. 8-9; History,
24th Pursuit Gp.; Statement of Personal
Experience, made by Maj. Stewart W.
Robb at the request of historical per-
sonnel, 30 Nov. 1944; statement by Maj.
David L. Obert, 14 May 1945.
22. USSBS Intr. 601, 2 8 Nov. 1945,
Comdr. Ryosuke Nomura, who during
the invasion of the Celebes was air op-
erations officer of the 23d Air Flotilla;
Operations of the Japanese Navy in the
Invasion of the Philippines, 15 May 1946,
ATIS Doc. 1 9 6 9 2 .
23. History, 24th Pursuit Gp.
24. Histories, 27th Bomb. Gp. and
24th Pursuit Gp.
25. Interview with Col. Eugene Eu-
bank, 2 July 1942; unrecorded interview

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 863 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.