A War of Their Own: Bombers over the Southwest Pacific - World War II Fifth Air Force Air War, General George Kenney, U.S. Army Air Forces

by Matthew K. Rodman

Captain Matt Rodman's book is an intriguing study of a moment in history when combat airpower played a key role in achieving victory. He expertly recounts how Fifth Air Force quickly developed new tactics and procedures that "saved the day." The perfection of low-altitude bombing, strafing, and skip bombing made differences that in hindsight are easy to recognize and quantify. Without them the Fifth would have found itself in a longer, costlier fight with an uncertain outcome. However, these new tactics hurt the enemy to the extent that the Allies eventually prevailed.

The real value of Captain Rodman's study, however, lies not so much in his excellent retelling of significant developments in air-power as in his pushing the need for us to be flexible, adaptive, opportunistic, and entrepreneurial while safeguarding our core values and capitalizing on our core competencies. He therefore helps us take some of the uncertainty out of the largely unpredictable future by stressing the importance of "effective adaptability." Obviously, many components determine success— preparation, resources, knowledge, and determination, to name just a few. None of these, however, have nearly the importance as the creative ability to adapt effectively in order to confront the threat and deliver victory. By telling us the story of Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific, Captain Rodman schools us on our need to employ all of our resources creatively, no matter their limitations. Our future battles will be new and different, as will the actions we take, even though they derive from our past successes.

In the mid-1980s, experts would have had difficulty forecasting the effectiveness of the precision and near-precision aerial strikes we executed in Iraq just a few years later. In the mid-1990s, almost no one could have envisioned allied and joint ground forces, some riding on horseback, communicating through satellites to a multitude of aircraft that produced effects leading to our triumph in Operation Enduring Freedom. Today we can only venture a guess—and probably not very accurately— at what we will confront in the coming years. But this much is certain: we will face challenges unlike those of the past, and victory will go to the team that can best adapt its resources to stop the enemy. Captain Rodman's great effort convinces us that it is our legacy to maintain and even enhance that ability.

Genres: War

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2012

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Rodman adapted his MA thesis into this book, but don't let that but you off. This is a carefully constructed and researched account of the development of attack aviation, using the overlooked Fifth Air Force in the South West Pacific Theater. General Kenney, who served as General MacArthur's air commander, faced many difficulties when he assumed command in the dark days of 1942. US airpower in the theater had suffered massive losses in the Philippines. Reinforcements would be sporadic, as Europe and the Central Pacific took priority. The sheer scale of the theater, with thousands of kilometers separating islands, meant that strategic targets were out of range. And finally, Army Air Corps doctrine was based around massed formations of heavy bombers operating from around 10,000 feet, but in practice accuracy from that altitude was abysmal and bombers simply could not hit stationary targets, let alone moving fleets.

Kenney reorganized local forces under his unified command, and began developing tactics of low-level bombing using field made expedients. Legendary pilot 'Pappy' Gunn mounted up to 12 .5o caliber machine guns in the noses of medium bombers, turning them into scything strafers. Crews developed daring tactics of mast-level skip-bombing, making their runs in at about 100 feet, and using short salvos to ensure a hit by skipping one bomb off the sea and dropping another directly on deck. Small parachutes attached to bombs created parafrags, parademos, and daisy clippers, deadly against soft targets like air bases. Even 75mm cannons were mounted on planes, though ultimately pilots preferred more machine guns, which were better at suppressing flak.

Kenney's reforms paid off. In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, his squadrons destroyed a major Japanese convoy, killing thousands of enemy soldiers at sea and leaving those already in New Guinea without supplies. The subsequent raid on the airbase at Wewak caught Japanese bombers fueled up and minutes from take-off. That attack ended the offensive threat against Kenney's forces. As pilots rotated home, the hard-learned lessons of 1943 were forgotten, and losses rose in 1945 as the Fifth Air Force moved towards Japan.

Rodman makes a strong case for tactical flexibility in the face of field conditions as key component in air power. This perspective was elided post war, with the 8th Air Force over Europe and the new atomic bomb serving as models for airpower. And as a bonus, this book is available as free pdf courtesy of the USAF, and has some incredible pictures of attack planes in action!

[William Olenick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read on how the bomber community that made up the Fifth AF in the SW Pacific adapted new tactics to be able to prevail over the enemy. There are numerous photos and some maps to show the areas talked about and diagrams to illustrate the tactics discussed. This is a recommended read for any interested in the Pacific theater.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of a general overview of the bombing war in the Southwest Pacific, focusing on the 5th Air Force. The book spends most of its pages on the pre-war bomber doctrine of the AAF and the 5th's campaign in and around New Guinea. This is followed by quicker sections on the battles for the Philippines and Formosa.

[David Runyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave an interesting and informative- albeit brief- look at tactical and strategic adaptation in air combat in the Southwest Pacific theater of WW2. A good look at a rarely-examined aspect of the war.

[Mike Slawdog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rodman talks about pre-war Air Corps doctrine, why it came into being, and how Gen. Kenney adapted new tactics in the Southwest Pacific Theater out of necessity. For an Air University published book it's a pretty good and easy to read discussion of one of the lesser-known air campaigns in World War II and how it did not fit in with the widely-touted doctrine of strategic bombing.