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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 4 0 0 - 4 0 6
Karl Truesdale, Jr., to Tom, 17 Mar.
‘942.
1 1 0 . The principal sources for the
pursuit statistics are the History, 17th
Squadron and the Digest of the Air
Phase in the Philippines, in AAG om-
800, Misc. Phil. Fisher report, Lane
interview, Gambonini diary, and the
messages from the theater provide addi-
tional documentation.
I I I . 19th Gp. Opns. Record. Early
reports of claims were quite unreliable,
particularly as they concerned shipping.
It should be pointed out that from De-
cember 1941 through 5 March 1942, in
both the Philippines and the NEI,
JANAC credits all army aircraft (US.,
British, Dutch, Australian) with no more
than three minesweepers, four passenger
or cargo vessels, and one “converted
salvage” vessel sunk, and a part in sink-
ing two other cargo vessels. A recapitula-
tion of bombers destroyed was made by
the Command and General Staff School,
dated 1 2 May 1945, in order to deter-
mine if any bombsights fell into the
hands of the enemy. This study lists the
thirty-eight planes destroyed in Java, but
breaks them down somewhat differently:
six shot down, six lost by accident,
twenty destroyed on ground by enemy
action, five destroyed upon evacuation,
and one in manner unidentified. In addi-
tion it lists six destroyed in Australia
between 28 December and 3 March.
1 1 2 . Msg., Fort Mills to AGWAR,
19 Mar. 1942; msg. #Aquila 5 , Brereton
to AGWAR, 29 Mar. 1942; Tactical
Lessons from Aircraft in Combat, 2 7
Mar. 1942, Doc. 2 2 , in History, Fifth Air
Force, Pt. I ; interviews with Maj. Frank
P. Bostrom, 5 Dec. 1942; Maj. Edward C.
Teats, 5 Dec. 1942 [ ? I ; Capt. H.C.
Smelser, 6 Apr. 1942; Lt. Robert A.
Trenkle, 7 Apr. 1942; Capt. E.S. Green,
6 Apr. 1942; msg. #ABDA 456, Java to
T A G , 19 Feb. 1942; msg. #ABDA 37DX,
Java to TAG, 17 Feb. 1942.
I 13. Smelser interview.
114. History, 27th Bomb. Gp.; inter-
view with Maj. John Davies, 9 Dec. 1942;
msg., Adams to C G USAF, Darwin, 5
Jan. 1942.
1 1 5 . Fisher report; msg. # z from Ban-
7 ‘4
doeng, 1 2 Feb. 1942; msg. $17, Java to
T A G , 19 Feb. 1942; msg. #389, Adams to
C G USAFIA, 22 Feb. 1942; report by
Lt. Col. William Lane, Information of
Tactical Value on Japanese Navy “0”
Fighters, in AFSHO files.
NOTES TO CHAPTER
I . Msg. #4zz, sans origine to
Mar. 1942.
2 . Navy msg. #ABDA 74
USNA, Melbourne, 25 Jan. 1942; msg.
# z z , Chungking to T A G , 26 Jan. 1942;
msg. #IS, Java to AGO, 13 Feb. 1942;
msg. #483, sans origine to T A G , 4 Mar.
1942; Biennial Report, C/S to Sec. of
War, I July 1941-30 June 1943.
3. Msg. #z95, Melbourne to AGWAR,
20 Feb. 1942; msg. #600, Wainwright to
T A G , 2 6 Mar. 1942.
4. Statements of Maj. David L. Obert
(14 May 1945), Maj. Stewart W. Robb
(30 Nov. 1944), and Maj. Ben S. Brown
( 2 5 Oct. 1944); History, 24th Pursuit
Gp.; Allison Ind, Bataan, the Judgment
Seat (New York, 1944), pp. 213ff.
5 . Obert statement.
6. Msg. #205, MacArthur to T A G , 5
Feb. 1942; msg. $413, Fort Mills to AGO,
4 Mar. 1942; msg., Arnold to MacArthur,
4 Mar. 1942; GO 39 and 40, Hq.
USAFFE, 1 2 Mar. 1942; combat report
of Capt. William M. Rowe, in A-2
Library; History, 24th Pursuit Gp. The
Joint Army and Navy Assessment Com-
mittee does not confirm the sinking of
these vessels. “Bataan Diary of Major
Achille C. Tisdelle,” ed. by Louis Mor-
ton, Military Ajfairs, XI (Fall, 1947), 139-
40, makes note of the mission as follows:
“Our combination-bomber-attack-pursuit
-P-40 airforce was on a party for the
Nips in Subi [ Subic Bay] last night, each
plane carrying a hundred pound bomb,
plus smaller bombs. They got the Nips
with their pants down and sank two
freighters and one tanker. Observers on
Mount Samat stated that it was a lovely
show. Only two of the three P-40’s re-
turned. So, now we have two airplanes
only.”
7. History, 24th Pursuit Gp.; Robb
I r
TAG, z
to AL-

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