South Pacific Air War Volume 1

Author: Peter Ingman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994588944
Category : Coral Sea, Battle of the, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Book Description
This volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific from December 1941 until March 1942, during which air operations by both sides became a daily occurrence. As Imperial Japanese Navy flying boats and landbased bombers penetrated over vast distances, a few under-strength squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force put up a spirited fight. However it was the supreme power of aircraft carriers that had the biggest impact. Four Japanese fleet carriers facilitated the capture of Rabaul over a devastating four-day period in January 1942. The following month, the USS Lexington's fighter squadron VF-3 scored one of the most one-sided victories of the entire Pacific War. By March 1942 the Japanese had landed on mainland New Guinea, and the scene was set for a race to control Port Moresby. This is the full story of both sides of an air war that could have been won by either incumbent, but for timing, crucial decisions and luck. The two authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is a globally-acknowledged expert on the New Guinea air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.

South Pacific Air War Volume 5

Author: Michael Claringbould
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780648926290
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Volume Five of this series chronicles aerial warfare primarily in the New Guinea theater in the critical period between September and December 1942. It can be read alone or as a continuation of the previous four volumes which span the first nine months of the Pacific War. By early September the strategic picture in the theater had changed markedly within just six weeks. From their new Buna beachhead, the Japanese Army commenced a Papuan mountain campaign which threatened the Allied bastion of Port Moresby. Meanwhile the battle for Guadalcanal was raging, with the outcome of the wider Pacific War in the balance. Against this background a strengthened US Fifth Air Force took the fight to the IJA with direct air support. While this was being conducted by P-39s, P-40Es, A-20As and B-25s, raids by B-17s against Rabaul aided US forces in the neighboring Solomons. RAAF Beaufighters, Beauforts, Bostons, and Hudsons also contributed substantially to these efforts. At Rabaul, a wide variety of fresh IJN fighter and bomber units poured in the theater, although these became focused mainly on the Solomons. Such were the massive losses experienced, by November the IJN undertook a complete operational and administrative reorganization of its air power. Then, despite a strong reluctance to become involved, the IJA sent an advance reconnaissance detachment to Rabaul, the forerunner of major reinforcements that would arrive in December. Never before has this campaign been chronicled in such detail, with Allied and Japanese accounts matched together for a truly factual account of the conflict.

South Pacific Air War

Author: Michael Claringbould
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780994588975
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
This second volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific for the two crucial months of March and April 1942 when a deadly struggle for Port Moresby played out. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy which culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.The period begins with the stunning 10 March US Navy carrier strike against Lae and Salamaua which caused the Japanese to pause their advance until their own carriers were available. Instead they tried to grind the Allied forces at Port Moresby into submission through an unrelenting air assault by their Betty bombers and superlative Zero fighters. After a long wait, Allied land-based fighters finally arrived in the form of Royal Australian Air Force No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawks. These were backed up by a growing collection of United States Army Air Force bombers including A-24 Banshees, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders (the latter two types making their worldwide combat debut over the skies of New Guinea). Together this motley force took the fight to the Japanese, resulting in a complex aerial campaign which saw units from both sides reach exhaustion. Never before has such a detailed chronicle of this air war been published, and for the first time the authors match Allied accounts with Japanese records. The result is both thrilling and surprising, with the resulting dispositions of the air forces of both sides setting the scene for the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.Both authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is an acknowledged expert on the Pacific air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.

Pacific Air

Author: David Sears
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
ISBN: 0306819481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
Offers an account of the U.S. airmen's roles in the air battles that took place over the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Finish Forty and Home

Author: Phil Scearce
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 1574413163
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
The true story of the men and missions of the 11th Bombardment Group as it fought alone and unheralded in the South Central Pacific, while America had its eyes on the war in Europe.

South Pacific Cauldron

Author: Alan Rems
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612514707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
The war in the South Pacific in its entirety has remained remarkably neglected by historians. This is the first comprehensive narrative history covering all land, sea and air operations in the theater to the end of World War II. While Guadalcanal is familiar to most Americans and the Kokoda Trail is well known to Australians, the war in the South Pacific includes many now forgotten operations that deserve to be well remembered. Also, significantly, the official Australian history of World War II correctly observed that Australia’s part in the Pacific war is barely mentioned in American histories. This volume finally brings the major Australian contribution to the fore, recognizing too the valuable part played by New Zealand forces in the Solomons campaign. The dramatis personae could hardly be improved upon, including brilliant and imperious General Douglas MacArthur, audacious and profane Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, and bibulous and indelicate Australian General Thomas Blamey. No less interesting are many others that will be mostly new to readers, many from the Japanese side, including indomitable generals Noboru Sasaki and Hatazo Adachi. As for the fighting men, many of their stories are captured in accounts of the actions for which they were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Victoria Cross, and other decorations for valor. Three chapters are of special interest. Based on the author’s archival research, Chapter 10 tells through confidential correspondence the remarkable story of the death of the top Marine general in the Pacific and its cover-up sanctioned by Halsey. Chapter 23 concerns the first African-American ground troops in combat and tells how the performance of one company on Bougainville resulted in a reversal of that policy. Chapter 26 involves Blamey’s questionable decision to eradicate the isolated Japanese forces, forcing his Australian militia to risk their lives knowing their sacrifices could make no difference in the outcome of the war.

South Pacific Air War

Author: Richard Dunn
Publisher: Schiffer + ORM
ISBN: 1507303408
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 979

Book Description
A new history of the South Pacific campaigns based primarily upon primary source material

Pacific Legacy

Author: Gerald A. Meehi
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0789213338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The classic photo book about the battlegrounds of the Pacific Theater then and now—updated with new information about the preservation and accessibility of these historic sites. Pacific Legacy offers an unprecedented record of the relics of World War II that have survived on the islands of the Pacific: American landing craft rusting on the reefs where they were stopped by enemy fire; shell-pocked Japanese fortifications; fallen aircraft overgrown by jungle; packed-coral landing strips still as good as new. These evocative color images are paired with archival photographs that show the same tropical battlegrounds as they appeared in wartime. The text covers the entire war in the Pacific, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay. The principal battles are recounted hour-by-hour, drawing heavily on firsthand accounts. This vivid narrative helps the reader visualize what it was really like to be at war in the Pacific, doggedly island-hopping to victory.

The Early Air War in the Pacific

Author: Ralph F. Wetterhahn
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147666997X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.

Eagles of the Southern Sky

Author: Luca Ruffato
Publisher: Avonmore Books
ISBN: 9780473217631
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
The definitive history of the Imperial Japanese Tainan Naval Air Group - the most prestigious of any Japanese aerial unit in World War 2. It was assigned New Guinea in April 1942, confident of victory, having already conquered the Philippines and Dutch East Indies. However, by mid-November 1942 only eighteen pilots from the original cadre sailed home from Rabaul, marking the end of an era. This book outlines the definitive history of this flagship unit in New Guinea, sourcing material from all sides of the conflict.