U S Naval Aviation In The Pacific

The purpose of this review, which was prepared by officers on duty in the Operations Division, including Air Combat Intelligence officers with extensive service in the Pacific, is to analyze the relation between air and sea power. It is based upon the experience of naval aviation in the war against Japan as recorded in the files of the Navy Department. Reports of the United States Strategic Bombing: Survey have also been consulted and the chart of the progress of the war has been taken from one of them. The danger inherent in any report confined to one aspect of the war is that it may mislead the reader into forgetting that the conflict was won by a combination of ground, naval, and air forces, each of which carried its share of the common burden. All operated within the framework of strategic plans, and it is the aim of this analysis to show how naval aviation fulfilled its part of those plans. Since it is from the lessons of experience that plans for the future must be derived, the report is presented in the hope that it will prove of some value to those responsible for the future security of the United States.

The purpose of this review, which was prepared by officers on duty in the Operations Division, including Air Combat Intelligence officers with extensive service in the Pacific, is to analyze the relation between air and sea power. It is based upon the experience of naval aviation in the war against Japan as recorded in the files of the Navy Department. Reports of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey have also been consulted and the chart of the progress of the war has been taken from one of them. The danger inherent in any report confined to one aspect of the ear is that it may mislead the reader into forgetting that the conflict was won by a combination of ground, naval, and air forces, each of which carried its share of the common burden. All operated within the framework of strategic plans, and it is the aim of the analysis to show how naval aviation fulfilled it part of those plans. Since it is from the lessons of experience that plans for the future must be derived, the report is presented in the hope that it will prove of some value to those responsible for the future security of the United States.

Hailed as one of the finest examples of aviation research, this comprehensive 1984 study presents a detailed and scrupulously accurate operational history of carrier-based air warfare. From the earliest operations in the Pacific through the decisive Battle of Midway, it offers a narrative account of how ace fighter pilots like Jimmy Thach and Butch O'Hare and their skilled VF squadron mates - called the "first team" - amassed a remarkable combat record in the face of desperate odds. Tapping both American and Japanese sources, historian John B. Lundstrom reconstructs every significant action and places these extraordinary fighters within the context of overall carrier operations. He writes from the viewpoint of the pilots themselves, after interviewing some fifty airmen from each side, to give readers intimate details of some of the most exciting aerial engagements of the war. At the same time he assesses the role the fighter squadrons played in key actions and shows how innovations in fighter tactics and gunnery techniques were a primary reason for the reversal of American fortunes. After more than twenty years in print, the book remains the definitive account and is being published in paperback for the first time to reach an even larger audience.

This is a comprehensive compilation of Navy history material providing extensive information about the role of Naval aviation in World War II. The first part of the compilation is a full chronology of events in Naval aviation during the war. Thirty-nine unique articles comprise part two, and the third section focuses on aspects of the Pacific theater. Part 1: Naval Aviation Chronology in World War II Part 2: World War II Naval Aviation Stories: Ready to Mobilize, Part 1 * Ready to Mobilize, Part 2, Victory Winning Team * Ready or Not...Naval Aviation's Aircraft and Ships on the Eve of Pearl Harbor * The Neutrality Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II, Part 1 * The Neutrality Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II, Part 2 * Aviation Training and Expansion, Part 1 * Aviation Training and Expansion, Part 2 * Wings of Victory, Prewar Technical Development, Part 1 * Wings of Victory, Technical Development During WW II, Part 2 * Wings of Victory, Part 3 * Organization of Naval Aviation in World War II * Aviation Ordnance 1939-1941 * The Pacific Neutrality Patrol * "This is No Drill." U.S. Naval Aviation and Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 * Wake Island--A Gallant Defense * The Early Carrier Raids: Proving Japanese Vulnerability * The Battle of Coral Sea * Do the Best We Can with What We have (Battle of Midway) * Patrol Aviation in the Pacific in WW II, Part 1 * Patrol Aviation in the Pacific in WW II, Part 2 * Naval Aviation in Operation Torch * Guadalcanal: Trial by Fire, Part 1 * Guadalcanal: Trial by Fire, Part 2 * Combat Art in WW II * Fighter Tactics in WW II * Fleet Carrier Combat Operations, 1943 to 1944 * Solomon Islands Campaign: The Isolation of Rabaul * Island Hopping in WW II: From the Gilberts to the Marshals * Island Hopping in WW II: The Marianas * Invasion! Fortress Europe--Naval Aviation in France, Summer 1944 * The Kamikazes: Japanese Suicide Units * Victory at Leyte Gulf * Patrol Aviation in the Atlantic in World War II * Back to the Philippines, Part 1 * Back to the Philippines, Part 2 * Technical Development in World War II * From Autos to Aircraft: General Motors' WW II conversion to Wildcats and Avengers * The Largest Invasion...That Never Was * In the Wake of Victory Part 3: This important U.S. Navy history about naval aviation in the Pacific during World War II was published in 1947. Contents * CHAPTER I * Mission and Organization of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER II * Components and Weapons of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER III * Special Aspects of the Air War * CHAPTER IV * The Japanese Offensive-Pearl Harbor to Midway * CHAPTER V * Offensive-Defensive-Guadalcanal to Bougainville * CHAPTER VI * The United States Offensive--Tarawa to Tokyo * CHAPTER VII * Tactical Effectiveness of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER VIII * Lessons Learned

The ability of the United States Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the U.S. victory over Japan in the second World War. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded. When the United States realized war was imminent and ordered a drastic increase in the size of its aviation fleet, the Navy was forced to reconsider its earlier practices and develop new policies in maintenance, supply, and technical training. Not only did a shortage of technicians plague the Navy, but the scarcity of aviation supply and repair facilities in the Pacific soon caused panic in Washington. While the surface Navy's modernization of at-sea replenishment was beneficial, it did not solve the problems of sustaining war-time aircraft readiness levels sufficient to a winning a naval air war. Fisher outlines the drastic institutional changes that accompanied an increase in aviation maintenance personnel from fewer than 10,000 to nearly 250,000 bluejackets, the complete restructuring of the naval aviation technical educational system, and the development of a highly skilled labor force. The first comprehensive study on the importance of aircraft maintenance and the aircraft technician in the age of the aircraft carrier, Sustaining the Carrier War, provides the missing link to our understanding of Great Power conflict at sea.