Figure 1.--The tiny Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal with largely obsolete aircraft under the most primitive conditions played a major role in stopping the tide of Japanese aggression in the South Pacific. And the intrepid air men oberworked and often sick from malaria accomplished this while being bombed by Japanese aircraft and regularly shelled by Japanese artillery as well as battleships and cruisers. Here the ground crew is doing their best to keep a battered Wildcat flying.

The first American offensive of World War II occurred at Guadacanal in the southern Solomons. American air reconisance aircraft detected a new air base the Japanese began building on the island. An airbase there could help cut the sea lanes to Australia and New Zealand where America was buildung up its forces. The American invasion force initially encountered only weak Japanese resistance. The Japanese did not think the Americans were capable yet of an offensive counterstroke. They had not garisoned the island strongly. And the closest air base was at Rabaul. Here Japanese aircraft could reach Guadacanal, but were on the outer limit of their effective range. Japanese aircraft struck the small Marine beachhead and threatening the transports. The Japanese naval victory in the nighttime Battle of Salvo Island forced the transports to withdraw. Meanwhile the Americans seized the airfield and rushed it to completion using Japanese contruction equipment. Within 2 weeks it was operational. They named in Henderson Field in honor of a Marine pilot killed at Midway. The small marine air force which operated there played a key role in the defense of the Marines on Guadacanal. It became known as the Cactus Air Force. (The America code name for Guadacanal was Cactus.) The Marines flew in Grunman 4F Wildcat fighters and Dauntless dive bombers. They faced a much larger Japanese force at Rabaul which targeted Henderson field. The Navy Wildcats came into service in 1937 and by 1942 were largely obsolete by 1942, but it was all the Navy and Marines had. They were not as fast as the Zero and were not as manuerable, but they were armored and had greater fire power, Henderson field was essentially a carrier and the Cactus Air Force made it very costly for the Japanese to supply the substantial troop strength they were building on the island. The Cactus AirvFirce targeted Japanese naval ships and the Tokyo Express. Evebntually it became just too costly for the Japanese to continue contesting possession of Guadacanal. With Guadcanal secured, the Americahns began moving up "The Slot" to secure more island air bases as part of a strategy of building "Rings atound Rabaul".

Rabaul

Rabaul in the Bismarck Archepeligo, unlike Truk, was not a Japanese outpost when the War began. It was seized by the Japanese and rapidly built into one of the most formidable bases in the Pacific. Simson Harbor was an ideal anchorage for naval vessels and the Japanese ringed it with air fields. These facilities included concrete protective bunkers for the aircraft. The airfields not only protected the naval anchorage, but with the Zeros range could support military actions throughout the Solomons.

Guadacanal

The first American offensive of World War II occurred at Guadacanal in the southern Solomons. American air reconisance aircraft detected a new air base the Japanese began building on the island. An airbase there could help cut the sea lanes to Australia and New Zealand where America was buildung up its forces. The American invasion force initially encountered only weak Japanese resistance. The Japanese did not think the Americans were capable yet of an offensive counterstroke. They had not garisoned the island strongly. And the closest air base was at Rabaul. Here Japanese aircraft could reach Guadacanal, but were on the outer limit of their effective range. Japanese aircraft struck the small Marine beachhead and threatening the transports. The Japanese naval victory in the nighttime Battle of Salvo Island forced the transports to withdraw. Meanwhile the Americans seized the airfield and rushed it to completion using Japanese contruction equipment. Within 2 weeks it was operational. They named in Henderson Field in honor of a Marine pilot killed at Midway. The small marine air force which operated there played a key role in the defense of the Marines on Guadacanal. It became known as the Cactus Air Force. (The America code name for Guadacanal was Cactus.) The Marines flew in Grunman 4F Wildcat fighters and Dauntless dive bombers. They faced a much larger Japanese force at Rabaul which targeted Henderson field. Henderson field was essentially a carrier and the Cactus Air Force made it very costly for the Japanese to supply the substantial troop strength they were building on the island. The Cactus AirvFirce targeted Japanese naval ships and the Tokyo Express. Evebntually it became just too costly for the Japanese to continue contesting possession of Guadacanal.

Aircraft

The Navy Wildcats used by the Marines on Guadacanal came into service in 1937 and by 1942 were largely obsolete by 1942, but it was all the Navy and Marines had. They were not as fast as the Zero and were not as manuerable, but they were armored and had greater fire power. While the American fighters (the Wildcat and P-40 Tomahawks) were outclassed by the Zeros. The whole rational behind Guadacanal and the Solomons campaign was airpower. First to protect the sea lifelines between America and Australia and then to project air power on the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul. Not having a fast, modern fighter significantly impeded the operations. Fortunately American air commanders adopted tactics to utilize the strongpoints of their slower fighters. The tactics had been developed by General Claire Chennault in China and effectively used by the Flying Tigers. Flyers like Major "Pappy" Boyington, who had served with thge Dlying Tigers, put them to use in the Solomons. [Boyington] Thus the Japanese were unable to fully capitalize on their advantage. And after the Guadacanal campaign, improved fighter types, the P-38 Lighting and the Chance-Vought F4U Cossair began arriving in the theater swinging the air war decisekly to the American's advantage.

Moving Up the Slot

With Guadacanal secured, the Americahns began moving up "The Slot" to secure more island air bases as part of a strategy of building "Rings atound Rabaul". Essentially this involved seizing islands from which air bases could cover operations further north.

I-GO/Opperation I Offensive

Emperor Hirohito after the fall of Guadcanal demabded a new offensive in the South Pacific. The naval balance in 1943 had begun to shift which disuaded Admiral Yamaoto from committing the Imperial Navy in the South Pacific. From his headquarters in Truck, Yamamoto and his chief-of-staff Admiral Ugaki planned a major air action--Operation I Go. The Imperial Navy no longer had the carriers to mount a massive air operation, but it had air bases in Rabaul and the Solomons. The Japanese still had substanial air forces and pilots fro carriers were transferred to air bases to support the effort. Japanese factories weee still producing air craft in large numbers. There were, however, two fundamental ptoblems. First, the Japanese were producng aircraft models that had been cutting edge in 1941, but were uncompetive with the new aircraft like the Lighting, Hellcat and Corsairs that had begun ti reach the Americans. Second, Japan had not adopted its exhaustive, lengthy pre-war pilot training program to the needs of the War. The Japanese program had produced some of the finest pilots in the world, but it was lengthy. Rather than fundamentally changing the program, both the Army andNavy simply sent minimally trained polots to the front. Trained pilots might have been able to effectively use the Zero against the new American aircraft. Novices had no chance. Yamamoto was shocked to find that new pilots were being sent to Rabaul without any training on Zeros. [Thomas, p. 88.]

RO Offensive

Yamamoto Shoot Down

Munda

Bougainville

Carrier Strike on Rabaul (November 1943)

T he Japanese in response to the Bougainville landings prepared a naval task force commanded by Admiral Takeo Kurita built around eight heavy cruisers and carrier-based aircraft to attack the Marine bridgehead. Plans for the attack were picked up by Naval code breakers at Pearl. They informed Halsey who decided to strike first with his availavle carriers, the old Saratoga and the light carrier Princeton. Halsey's son William was aboard Saratoga. It was a risky decession given Rabaul's formidable air defenses. The carrier strike, however, reached Rabaul undected and msauled four of Kurita's heavy crusiers. This made the Japanese naval strike on the Marines at Bougainville impossible.

Impact on Japanese Aviation

Sources

Boyington, Gregory. Baa Baa Black Sheep (Putnam: New York, 1958), 384p.

Thomas, Evan. Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign, 1941-1945 (Simon & Schuster: New York, 2006), 414p.

Created: 2:53 PM 3/20/2007
Last updated: 1:03 AM 10/7/2019