USSBS Report 61, Military Analysis Division, Air Forces Allied With the United States in the War...

8/7/2019 USSBS Report 61, Military Analysis Division, Air Forces Allied With the United States in the War Against Japan

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THE UNITED STATESSTRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY

& " ' ~ L "itUABJN C.BPS S 1.0"",8

AIR FORCESALLIED WITH THE UNITED STATES,

IN THE

G I


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T h i ~ report ' I I 'U "-rillen primllrily for the u


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TABLE Of coNTENTS. . . . . . . . . . . ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

II OrIaAnoNI a. TI P RoYAL AUna.uJA N AIR FORCB . . . .Ill. OraATIONI OF THI RoUL NEW Z&\I..AND Am FORCE . . . . ..IV. ()pa.a.TlONI or TH I ROYAL NBTHBlU.A.ND8 EAsT INDIES AIRFoaca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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I. Inuod ucrionThe Anny Air Corps and the Naval Air Arm

of the United States received active a8!listancefrom the air forces ot !leven nations in defeating Japan. One of the!le, the Chinese AirForce, had been in combat with the Ja panesesince the hMarco Polo Bridge Incident" of 7July 1937 and its "American Volunteer Group"formed the nucleus of the American ai r forCe!!in China; the British Royal Air Force, thcRoyal Australian Air Force, the Royal NewZealand Air Force3, the Royal Netherlands Eastl n d i e ~ Air Forees and the Phi1!ppine Commonwealth Ail' Force all joined the wa r within 24hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor; andthe M(.'xiean Air Force engaged in combat fly-ing against thc Jall!lnese in the Philipl)inesfrom 4 June 1946 through the Japan e!!C surrender on 14 August 1946.

All of these ai r forces, with the exceptionof the BI'itish Royal Ail' Force, dep'ended almost entirely on the aircraft industry of theUnited States for combat type planes. TheAustra lian government, however, was able tomanufacture trainers and light attack aircraft(" \\'i r raways") in increasing numbers as thewar I)rogres.;ed. together "'ith spare parts forAmeriean tYllCS. Great Britain also supplied>!Orne Illanes to the Itoyal Australian and RoyalNew Zealand Air Forces. Both of these airforces at the start of the war with Japan wen'little more than training orl1anizations for providing piloU! and airerews for the war withGermany. They successfully undertook expan.sion programs of considerllble SCOIJe and gaveimportant nssistance to the Allied forces inthe Pacific.~ x c e p l fo r a few obsolete airerllft in rear

" r e a ~ and the p l a n e ~ of the "AmeriClm "ohmteer GroUI)," the Chin(.'sc Ail' ~ ~ o r c c existl'{]only on PIII)(,I' at the time of Pearl l1arl)O I.La ter, considerable numbers of Chinesc pllotllwcre trnined lit /lying schools in the Unite


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tramna: e.eh month a.16 pilot>!, 184 o b . . e r vand S20 runnert.From the combined output the RAAF wasenttled to retain for its own requirementse : u t ~ fid,nl personnel to man lIquad rolUl formatetrdante with the allocation of ail'craft to}.Ultr alia, ,

2. Arf(l "f Opfl'l'ltiolls. The RAAFin cbe .....ar throughout the Southweat Pac.lticll re.t within II radius of roughly 2,500 mIlesfr',," Port Darwin. The territo ry - a l t h o ~ g h laTie _ WM spar -"!Iy poplliall.'d. The t r a h a n ronlinent C


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~ D t h . of the r. A"ide (rom Port_l G . . . . it WIUI the on ly for-.. in New W thward Allied air bale from Yohich the IOU ernflank If die Japuaeee IIwuioD !0f'C\!:t could be. ~ ~ 1\140 \he f\nt two bomberrewnnal8llllDce . . u a d r o l \ . ~ to be !lent to the n e w ' i ~ built .i r stlltion .rr ind at Darwin. On1 ~ n . b e T 1941 an Au atralian ,.quadron (romO,""n equipped ,,Im ArnHieanbuilt ! l O n ~ oombld and atr.fed the Japanese Tob1Islam northll\'!


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rreII over.tinK in t h ~ lhe delta' of entmy fo.. To carry out thisSooth,..g Pacific Aru. lhorm-d to act

101l1!".nlll)(I' niKhl l l l U l C k\ina.! Joined in withand mine laying..ed Offtlliril'c I'hnl C (SOl/ em10. AlI.()lIt AliI 5 In Septembr"(Mitche1\s an d Vf'niuras ) ope rating from t hrDllrwin aren wer e eminent h c c e l l " f u l in lIre I'cllting cons iderable l . " of SU PI) lie"or r..l n f o r c e m \ ' n l from I"(.nchin g the \).I'pasl!C(llind neutrllliZNI lIreall lind in gn,dulIlIy \\"enk.cninl' the power to resis t of enemy f o r c e ~

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trHlllk..d \hNI'. nl\' mediumll at tncked lIn y MuitalJle e llemy tllrgets a nd we re1 ( ' 8 l l O for thc df'M t rllctions of cO llsidera bleof m a \ 1 cargo I"essels, barges, luggers lIud othel types of coastal shippi ng .

In IIdditioll, HAAF L i b e r l l t o r ~ opera t ingfrom l ! o l . ' ~ in uorth Aus tralia s truck ta rget sin widely .... ' lmated IIreas of th e Nl'"therlsndsI n d i e from the ('entral Celebes to EastJ a\"ll I II the latie l area the bombers carried

out l l t e g i c alt"ekll nn th e important powers tlltions lit l\ali . Konto, IIppro:lCimately 50 mi les!!Outhwellt of Socrabajn, involving ro.und tr ipsof 1.!:I00 nautical m i l e These wrecked the,)Ian ts . Thl'.\' 111110 ca r ried ou t long-rllnge sear()ConnllilWlncc in search of J upanese ~ h i p p iwhich resu1te


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5. f 1'1I1awan andAlred lIiT u n i ~ opo.ratmg rom . '

A u ~ t r a ] j 8 l \ and United Statell naval umts, l ~ ' ,-aded Tarakan Island. The Japanese , ITForee mtde no appearance ~ u r i n g the. hmdmg.Soon lfterwards. follo\\'lOg oee&Slollai attacks by the enem)'. II squadron of Spitfire,swas mo,'ed into Tllukan. Borne(J. In .Jui}.after all intensil'e ai r attaCk by all a\'flliablehell'T bombers, aUack air.:raft lind . f i g h t e r ~ . A u S I ~ a l i l n ground troops !lInded at BahkplIplIll.In all Borneo lanriings the caaualties werelight. , t ..... hDurin, August t il" main R A A ~ a I'en .. .was mo,ed \0 LaUblill with fig?ler s q u a d r o n ~ stationeG at Tarakan and BahkpaplIll. Australill-\)aied Catalinlls sUlging .thr,ough Luzonlind Leyte were mining the shlppmg lanes atHalnan, Formo;;lI, Hong Kong. Amoy lindSwatowII. ()Irrational Ree(Jrd. From Pearl Harbor thrcugh the end of the war, the RAAF carried out 92,26;; sorties and dropped 23,249 tonsof bombs. It lost 694 aircraft in combat.12. Conclusions (A Summation). TheRAAF "lUIde the following major contributionsto the !!IIcce..s.ful conclusion of the war againstJapan:

0) )efendd Dar.....in and northern Australia turing the early months of the war andscored an important victory over a Japanesein\"asion force at !>lilne Bay in esstern NellGuinea in August 194.2.(ii) Built up, with the aid of the UnitedStates and Britain, 11 halanced ai r force ultimately ha,ing 53 ;;quadroM, and capable ofboth tactical and strategic air support of Allied o ~ e r a t i o n s in the Pacific.(iii) Had an importan t role in \arious operations of the Allied offensive, notably the ai rbombwdment. ,,hich made possible Ihe storming 01 Lae in 1943 and the invasion of theBorne) oil fields in 1945.

Ov] In collaboration with the Royal NewZealald Air ForC(' and the Royal NetherlandsE8IIt Indies Air Force, kept bypassed a reascontaming strong forcell of enemy t roops underconstlnt attack, and permanently neutrali2ed.(vI Made numerous attacks against Ja pa-nese Ihipping, the most vital link in Japan'swar tconomy, at a time when acute s h o r t a g e ~ were developing.13. S t 4 t ~ t i e 8 .

Il l. Operati ons of the Royal Ne w Zea landAir ForceBl.lckgr(Jllml. New Zealands peaC

( P ~ ~ _ 1 9 3 9 ) Air Foree had a p l ~ n n e d s t r e n ~ h of only 100 officers and 900 aIrmen. Its l eserve consisted of members of civilian AeroClubs tlying light airplanes. After t ~ e start(jf wa r with the ~ : u r o p e a n Axis, a conSIderableexpansion of airport facilities b e ~ a n , bu t itwas agreed that New Zealand's primary f u ~ c . tion w(juld be the training of pil(jts and au crew personnel in connection with the BritishCommonwealth Air Training Program. Fo rthis reason, military aviation in New Zealandat the time of Pearl Harbor consisted mainl yof a training organization distributed overboth N(jrth and South Island with n(j provi si(jn for offensive operations in the Pacific oreven for repelling an invasion. Not a fightersquadron was operati(jual in the Dominion .The only Ro:yal New Zealand Ai r Force uni loutside the Dominion was a detached flight ofa bomber- reconnaissance squadron (jperatingfrom Nandi, Fiji, although nearly 1.000 NewZealanders held so-called "short term" e(jmmissi(jns in the British RAF.

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2. Area. of Operalioll8. After Pearl Harbo rNew Zealand underto(jk, with the aid of itsallies, the building of an ai r force capable ofboth defensive and offensive action in a hugearea of water space dotted with islands tha thad backward native populations an d li t tle ind u s t r ~ ' . (RNZAF operations were carried oulwithin a radius of 4.000 miles from Auekl::md.Dominion capital.)

New Zealand itself is primarily an agricu ltural country with 11 popUlation of less than1,700,000. Before the war its principal eXp


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6 De/rlM' AIIUiu81 I / I ~ JaJllltle8e O l f e ~ t s i l l r . 7_ . nest foreet' J5(ored an unbroken s e ~ l e s . pa. . Ih "-,th....l'IIt PaeiRe until t h e ~

RNZAf' we re operliling oulsille the domin ionin the Pacific area: f " ..One bomber r t ' C o n n l l i ~ M n C ( ' "'lulHlron lit Ul

Vldorleo! n e,,'ere b l o e k ~ in the Solomons and in the m ~ u n tains nort. of Port Moresh}" in New G U 1 n e ~ . The situation actually was not stabilized untilMarch 19' 3. During this lM.'riod a .New Zealand fightn aquadron participated m the unu e e e ; l $ f u defense of Sing1l]lOre, and II bomberre


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5tt ck on Pearl 11&rOOr, Go\'ernOr

J a p a n ~ a L Tjarda. \'an Slarkenbor,gh~ n e r a l . ~ . .' the Batllvja radIO:Staehouwer a n n o ~ n c ~ ~ \ ' ~ a s t Indies gOl/ern-

. ,. Admiral C. I ~ . h HelfrichApril 1!)12.. \ ICC- find of all Dutch air, seaWfiS placed In c ~ m m 'a r East and a 12_manand land forces J\\ thc f k and Maj. I d d by Or. Van" 00 .delegatloJ) lea I' d' officer of: ~ ~ 8 ~ ~ : ; : S : ~ I I ~ ~ n ~ a ~ ? t a k e ~ up I I r m ~ llgain,t he J a l l l l n : S : / d : ~ : ~ r ~ \ l t c h aircraft lindD u n n ~ the nex" ", I' d to ha n?. . the Pacific Calm/)~ l I b m ~ ~ ~ e s 1 ' ~ k i n g II day of ,'sriolls types ofa \ ' e l 1 l l l ~ .8 S.' m o ~ t modern lighters ofenemy S ~ 1 1 ) P l l 1 g The . t to Singnpore.th A ~ ' Air force were sene . r '.he Saval flying boats and the ArmyI ~ d n ~ ~ . b,'oA i n ~ \ . a . \ l s t i o n without adequatean , ~ a \ ) ..,fighte r p-es. Long-range bombers of the NavalA" Fo,"ce attacked the in"asion forces andl a ~ r in1ieted heavy l ~ s e $ from 23-36 Januaryon a Japancse con'-oy passing through Macassa r Strliit. On 3 February, howe,cr. a forceof 80 Japanese bombers blasted the h e a ~ q U a r t e r ~ of the Nasal Air Force at SoeTllbaJa andall air facilities within 125 miles of the base,C l I u s i n ~ l(l$$es and considel'lIble damage..Java "'as in\'aded on 28 February after. theJapanl'Se naval "ictory over the combllledDuUh Australian and American fleet, and on6 M a ~ h the NEI capital, Rata,ill. was e \ ~ C l l aled. )n 9 March Hubertu$ Van Mook. LIeutenant GowTIlor General. arril"ed by ai r inAdelaicle "from the last strip of runway anlilable." Fourteen trans pOrt plane!! of KNILMe\"Bcuded other key l)I)r30nnel to Australia.Se..eral hundred Duten flying cadets el"acuatedin trainers, &ailing boats and other makeshiftmearu. and arrived piecemeal in Australia during t1e 'following month.Tilt last Naval Air Rage remaining in Dutehhand>. Tjiiatjap. 11'811 evacuated by si)( officers

and :9 aircrew and servicing personnel whoflew 'our damaged Catalina f t ~ ' i n g boats to theBritiw isl_d of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean.Five other Catalin811 which were flown to AustraUl a 3.100-mile nonstop IIight to Ceylon tJ join the Tji\atjap unit. Aaide from thisBIIIIli {oue. which patrolled the Indian Oceanfor !he rest of the war. the RNE IAF were atthis time without a .ingle combat plane.

G L H \'rm Oyen, comman J\\g .en. . . .' d in the Umtedthe ..... rmy Air p'Ol'ce, all'lve . Dutcn pilot sState$ to d i s c u ~ s n p l a ~ 1 t? t r ~ ~ o o I S were or .in the Cnited S t a t P Ylllg d J ckganizcd at Fort Leavenworth, Ka;4'? a ~ h e ~ o n Miss . and in September 1 -l a ; s 'of :-! on General MacArthur's western flank .and at Ilirious time!! they raided Kai, th e Trobriands and target.:! in western New Guinea.

Ouring February 1!)44 tne final grou P ofNE[ pilots trained in the United Staws leftfor the Pacific. Naval Ai r Force bombe rs inCeylon. that !!lime month, attacked ta rgets i llBurma. In July 1!)44 the first NglAF squadron to operate on Dutch soil since 1!)42 bega llattacking targets in southern New Guin ea.Like the Australian and New Zeal and !lir

t'. ReorgollizatiQR ill Uw l'Rited S l a l ~ $ . In

forces the Duteh received the ass ignmen t ofassisting the groond forces in mOI)ping-up b."p a ! l . ~ e d areas of Jllpanese strength and of e e l ~ inrr others pennanently neutralized by IIiI' al 'tack while the Allied offensive rolled closerJal)an. Ther performed this duty successful l.'until the Japanese surrender in 1!)45.

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6. t:onc/u8ion8. Th e RNEJA F accomplishedtlIe following in th e wa r against J apan:(I) Inflicted attrition on t he J apanese air,

. . . and land forces du r ing the Malayan andl'lE I campaigns of 1942.(Ii) Reo rganized. with t he lIid of the UnitedStates. both the Ar my ,Ind :;./"al'al ai r f O l ' c e ~ ",.hich practically we re wi ped ou t in the llbol"ecampaigns.(iii) Aided in the mopp ing up lind neutralization of areas of Japanese bypassed

during the Allied offensive of 1!),13----45 .01') Performed valuable long-range pa tr ol

duly in the Indian Ocean th roughout t he wa r .6. Stlltislics. Detailed statis\ics on the ac

tivities of the RNE IAF during the Pacific Wa rar c lacking, although it is known that severnlthousand sorties were flown and nu me rous vic_tories scored in ai,. combat. The early recordswere lost in the el'acllation of tne NEi, and atleilst II part of lllter operations ar e includedin the statis'tics of the RAA F.

T...al.E No. L---SUnlmory allied oi,. . florts a g a ; N ~ t JapaN" 0 . . - . .... 11U, _ L...." ,, ' 19111

.,,, ..." ...--..U&l....... .U.B. ' ....T .nd M. '' .... (L.an...". ..... ' .U.s. N... . nd " .. in. (C...,.".....r{8EA .Ia)- ,n._ ... (" ,C hlnA,",,. eo"", Wln,,111. . . . . . . . . .1'.".ElAI' .PlIIl,IpI. . . . . . .

' * t t l ...

1 ,' , ,01T""I o r : ~ 1 U ~ . 8 1 5 "'.'"191.i98

",0.41'1,..11ns.-:8.01.

21 ....

100."M.O::;".M0


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5UNITED STATES STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY

LIST OF REPORTS, h . ,,{ repO'U re$ultingTO. !"ILo.. it g i. a bibhograp ) d Patillro d' f Ihe EUT0p"an anh ..... the S,,"''')'' $IU ,eO " )' be put.hued from

....ro. Certai. of t h _ "'pOrta at the G o . e r n m ~ nthe Suporint.n

n A l : ' ~ ~ ~ i u m w e < k G III h H. j'lanl No. Bit te r_

28

G : : ! ~ ~ d ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ' n i G m h H. 1.udwi)(sh"fc".many . . I 1\ F 'icdrich

37 A lJew.Iled Study of the ~ : I l " e < : t a of ArC" I l < > mon D a , " ' ~ t a d t a8 A !)elailed St udy "f ~ h e E f f ~ , < I " ,,( Are" Bombi n"0" ! .u ' -k

14

A B"ief Study "f the ,:ffCl,(,5 The Elf""" of RomLI"g on Health Rnd Medit'l' a....neh

00 The Coking Industry lIepo't on Germa"yG7 Coking Plant lIeport No. I. Seelio"o A. II. C.

kD6!1 Gu tenno/f"u"gshuctte, Oberhausen. German)'Fried rich-Al fred Huctte. Rhd"hau..,n. Germany'0 Neunkirehen Ei..,nwcrke A G, Ntunkirehen. Ger.Ger"'' 'ny71 Reich.werke Henna"" Goering A G. Hallendorf.

GermanyAUll'uat Thy ..... " Uncllc A G. 1IJ1",born, Ge"man)'73 Friedrich KruPI' A G, Borbe


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0,1 h . ~ { h Amno",.k..- \". ) ! ~ . " h u . 1 t (; b 1\, LcUnB.

c ; , . t m a n ) - ~ ."Vl'I'ndireaB" , ... kohle lIhlt. ~ ' a r l l ' t ' . G.man )I ~ U Yolh"8"1-](nu","" Germa,,)'lij; KI,,,,I.n,r lIuonl.,I

12 The .'If""t.I of BambinI!" on lIeallh ~ " d Me.t N. X(T.. b'kawa lJikoki K" )(Alrf.._)

26 t'uJ, Airplane Compan)'Cor".. .... I, Htpo>.! No. XI( . 'u j i H i . o ~ i KK)(A,.f... mea)

27 Showa Alrpl. n.. CompantCorpora!!o. Report No. XI /

(Show. lIlk-k,i K""yo Kit)(Ai.rt.m )28 hh i h ....ajln'.. AIr" l t lnclu.lri"" Co.. ,..,,)", l. t.

Cor""... ' ;". R."". t No. XU I(hhik/twajima Koku Kabulhiki]{ai,lta)( nrl ,* , '


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[caNONIC STU DI ES-(Co'''')"ir

Mih", ') " " " I) ' ' ' ' m.i"""61 Air Fo.. eo AHied with the United Slat.. in II",

War Ag.inn J .pan 62 J l panese Air Power6.1 Japane.oe Air w.,.po"" and Toct iu&I The Efff'C:u of Air Aclion on Ja panel(' Crou".1Army Logislle.65 Employment of 1"0"'" Under the SOuth ....eslPa.ifu:: Command&6 The Strategic Air Operation. of Very lIe av)'

Bombardment in the Wa r Altain, t J ar a"(Twentieth Air F o r ~ e ) 67 Air Operation. in China, Hurnm. j"dla_ Worl.]War II

68 The Air Tranopon Command in tho War A J ! " QJapan69 The Thirl""nth Air ~ ' o r c e In Ihe War Apo l" .'

Japan,0 The Seventh and E l e v n t h Air c e a ill Ih e Wu,Aplnst J lP."71 The Fifth Air FOn:

USSBS Report 61, Military Analysis Division, Air Forces Allied With the United States in the War...

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Transcript of USSBS Report 61, Military Analysis Division, Air Forces Allied With the United States in the War...