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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. 48 …This navy of the air is to be expanded until no part of Germany is safe…
  • p. 53 …the Navy, and civilian agencies- the terms “independent,” “separate,” and “united air force” were used interchangeably…
  • p. 60 …n 5 September he used the recent disaster to the Navy’s dirigible Sheizandoah as an…
  • p. 62 …appointed in each of several departments-War, Navy, Commerce- to supervise aviation. The Lampert report, published…
  • p. 71 …delaying them, so that bombardment had been used to cut communications and to interfere with the…
  • p. 86 …One might suppose that Douhet, who “really struck the first blow,” was most useful; his work…
  • p. 88 …the desired support of the War and Navy departments. Only two months after the major submitted…
  • p. 96 …issues between the Army and the Navy over the use of aircraft in coastal defense. Neither…
  • p. 105 …The Navy would provide aircraPt for don, scouting, and patrolling over the sea and for the…
  • p. 107 …both the Army and the Navy for aviation to be used in support of “the Infantry…
  • p. 113 …Japanese Air Power The Japanese air forces, divided into separate army and navy air arms, had…
  • p. 116 …T h e navy, on the other hand, gave closer attention to the training of all…
  • p. 117 …0 single-engine fighter used by both the Japanese army and navy-was widely known to…
  • p. 118 …In comparison with the I 1,000 pilots trained by the US. Army and Navy during…
  • p. 120 …In the war against Ethiopia, 1935-36, Italian bombers gained experience in the use of various…
  • p. 125 …Under this arrangement the Luftwaffe, along with the army and navy, had direct access to the…
  • p. 126 …Goering had successfully opposed the navy's desire for its own separate air arm, and the…
  • p. 131 …The German navy was unable to provide such a guarantee, and, moreover, it lacked necessary equipment…
  • p. 144 …This subject had been under study by the Army arid Navy for more than a decade…
  • p. 146 …even at the expense of speed and useful load. A few months later Air Corps observers…
  • p. 154 …a t best deny us the moral support of the Royal Navy with its shipyards, and…
  • p. 155 …use of a mobile striking force to intercept an enemy approaching by sea. The Navy had…
  • p. 156 …in support of or in lieu of US. Navy forces against hostile fleet^.'^ In each case…
  • p. 162 …announced the arrival on the island of US. Navy At the suggestion of Iceland, the United…
  • p. 170 …AAF and the British, 800 for the US.Navy.’’’ This would total 60,000 aircraft a…
  • p. 175 …T h e planners were concerned only with the mission of the US. Army and Navy…
  • p. 179 …In harmony with the general strategy advocated, US. air forces in the Pacific and Far East…
  • p. 180 …For each command, the mission of the Army (including air forces) and the Navy was described…
  • p. 200 …An alert system was in use twenty-four hours a day, and air operations were carried…
  • p. 206 …Scattered throughout Panama were seven auxiliary airfields, two of which were ready for immediate use, and…
  • p. 218 …Since the required number of planes represented more heavy bombers than were then in use in…
  • p. 224 …regarding the possibility of using fields under construction by the Navy a t Palmyra and Samoa…
  • p. 225 …I 942.* It devel- oped that the Navy could not offer assistance in construction until after…
  • p. 228 …MacArthur had requested permission for emer- gency use of airfields; and negotiations were furthered by conferences…
  • p. 243 …This action lasted about an hour.‘ At its end the Navy had suffered a crushing blow…
  • p. 282 …But the US. Navy had been hard hit at Pearl Harbor, the bal- ance of naval…
  • p. 297 …the Secretary of the Navy as to allocation between the using services. No relative priorities were…
  • p. 305 …Army, Navy, and AAF, and similar representatives of the British services. T h e American members…
  • p. 306 …Joint Intelligence Committee, consisted of the directors of intelligence from the Army, Navy, and AAF, and…
  • p. 316 …So far as the Navy is concerned, Admiral King, as you know, is not only Chief…
  • p. 317 …AAF officers were schooled to avoid use of the term “independent air force,” but in most…
  • p. 326 …after 7 December 1941.T h e Navy was responsible for the general strategic defense of…
  • p. 328 …In the absence of adequate preparations, sirens on police cars were used to warn the people…
  • p. 335 …views between the W a r and Navy departments, and the unsatisfying conjectures advanced by the…
  • p. 410 …ready for use; and it had to be divided between the Army and Navy. On the…
  • p. 424 …Agreements had been reached for the use of Australian bases in the ferrying of heavy 366
  • p. 464 …For inter-island air trans- port, principal reliance was placed on two Navy PBY’s and…
  • p. 489 …In their prior planning, Army and Navy commanders had devoted scant attention to the problems of…
  • p. 495 …Under the joint Army-Navy plan, approximately 15,000 men of the 37th Division were to…
  • p. 497 …R I 1 precipitated the war, the US. Navy had taken a stand against im- mediate…
  • p. 501 …the end he refused to permit the use of the field at Chu- chow. But the…
  • p. 505 …into thickly settled districts, and these were used by the Japanese to justify the subsequent execution…
  • p. 508 …the S010mons.~~ As early as February, the US. Navy had definite indications of an enemy offensive…
  • p. 509 …The Navy’s lack of knowledge of these sightings is unexplained. 4-48
  • p. 514 …T o be sure, it would be impossible to use Carrier Division Five, for the Shokaku…
  • p. 527 …s and B-24's for naval use in long-range search and tracking."' Furthermore, he…
  • p. 529 …D W A R I 1 planes, useful in covering the northern approaches across the Pacific…
  • p. 534 …For the US. forces on Unalaska Island, it represented a loss of 2 2 , 0 0…
  • p. 536 …T h e Japanese navy had sustained its initial defeats, but the army as yet had…
  • p. 588 …Army aircraft might, however, temporarily execute Navy functions in support of or in lieu of Navy…
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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