Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
sis, depended upon the survival of the airfield. The base could not survive
without a flow of supplies, especially gasoline, and the Japanese Navy
made every effort to cut these essentials off. Obviously the field could not
operate if it was overrun by Japanese infantry, and this too the Japanese
attempted with all their might. The field could not be used if it was kept out
of operation by bombs from Japanese aircraft; this too the enemy
attempted. But Henderson Field was also subject to Japanese naval and
artillery bombardment. The Japanese Navy soon ceased operations about
Guadalcanal by day, largely because it came under attack by SBDs, but for
weeks it operated at night almost with impunity. Nonetheless, the field survived
because the Allies rushed in supplies and reinforcements in daylight,
enemy bombing was relatively ineffective, the Marines and the Army infantry
that arrived later valiantly held their lines, and the engineers and Seabees
(Naval Construction Battalions) on Guadalcanal risked their lives
filling bomb craters and shell holes so that the F4Fs and SBDs could continue
to operate.l7
In October and November the Japanese made their supreme effort to
dislodge U.S. forces from Guadalcanal. On October 13, ninety Marine,
Navy, and Army Air Forces planes were operational at Henderson Field,
though their gasoline supply was low. The Japanese, determined to establish
air superiority, had strongly reinforced Rabaul’s airfields in late September
and had begun heavy raids on Henderson Field. These attacks
reached their peak on the morning of October 13 and Japanese artillery
joined in the bombardment. Fifty-three bombs and shells hit the runway,
and at one time the Seabees repaired thirteen craters and shell holes while
planes waited to land. Then that night came the worst experience endured
by the men at Henderson Field: a naval bombardment that included 14-inch
shells from battleships. When sunrise came, only forty-two planes were in
flying condition. These planes could not fly from the regular runway. However,
parallel to the runway was a grass strip that was usable when dry, and
it was prepared so that fighters and dive bombers were able to take off
there. This was the low point, and from the end of October on, the Allied
air strength on Guadalcanal increased steadily. The air battles of October
and the Allied naval surface victories of November brought an end to
Japanese attempts to reinforce Guadalcanal. Having successfully defended
their base, Allied air units could now seek air superiority over the
Solomons. I*
Eastern New Guinea
By mid-1942, remnants of defeated air units from the Philippines and
the East Indies, a few Royal Australian Air Force units, a Dutch medium
bombardment squadron, and hastily trained replacements from the United
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