bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > Air Force War with Japan, © 2024 by Robert A. Christiansen​, updated by RAC 14 Feb 2024.
All United States Armed Forces branches participated in the air war against Japan; this webpage outlines the US Air Force's participation.
Seven numbered US Air Forces were involved in the War with Japan. Big Pigeon has dedicated webpages for the Fifth, Seventh, Thirteenth, and Twentieth Air Forces.
In the Pacific Areas:
  • Fifth Air Force, activated Sept. 1941 in the Philippine Islands; destroyed during the Loss of the Philippines;  recreated in Brisbane, Australia 1942 and served under General Douglas MacArthur in the SW Pacific Area Command; assigned to US Army control as part of the Far East Air Forces June 1944; subsequently supported operations in the Philippines. The Fifth Air Force relocated to Japan with Gen. MacArthur after WWII ended and as of 2023 is still headquartered in Japan.
  • Seventh Air Force, activated Nov. 1940 as the Hawaiian Air Force, joined the US Navy led Central Pacific campaign mid-1943 and was Okinawa-based by the end of WWII. As of 2023, it is headquartered in Korea.
  • Eleventh Air Force, based in Alaska, operated in the North Pacific area. As of 2023, it is still headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. See the WWII-Japan > North Pacific subpages for lists containing Pottawattamie area Eleventh Air Force dead.
  • Thirteenth Air Force, activated Jan. 1943 in New Caledonia, joined the 1943 US Navy led South Pacific campaign through the Solomon Islands, supported the Central Pacific campaign; assigned to US Army control as part of the Far East Air Forces June 1944; subsequently conducted bombing operations from western New Guinea against the Dutch Indies. The Thirteenth Air Force relocated to Clark AFB, Luzon, Philippines after WWII ended. Around 1949, the Thirteenth Air Force was commanded by Major General Howard Turner from my home town of Avoca, Iowa. It was evacuated from Clark Air Base in 1991 and inactivated in 2012.
In the China-Burma-India Theater: In the China-Burma-India Theater and the Central Pacific Area:
  • Twentieth Air Force, activated April 1944 as XX Bomber Command, carried out bombing campaign against the Japanese home islands using B-29 very heavy bombers. Initial raids were from India using forward bases in China.  The later and larger raids, including the atomic bombing missions, were flown from the Mariana Islands under the XXI Bomber Command. Air Force headquarters in Washington, DC directly controlled Twentieth Air Force operations.

The Air War in the South and Southwest Pacific:

In the desperate earlier part of the War with Japan, the Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces flew from many dozens of bases. As the Allies advanced, most rear area airfields were deactivated; however, some air bases survived and are still in use today. Here I mention only those known to have been used by Pottawattamie area Air Force men who died in the South Pacific Air War.
  • The first US airfields in the Solomon Islands after Guadalcanal, going into use in May 1943, were on Banika, Russell Islands  northwest of Guadalcanal. This is where Harold Tague's bomber group was stationed in January 1944 when he died over New Britain after a raid on Rabaul. 
  • From the complex of airfields near Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea, Kenneth Lawton and Milton Reestman flew to their deaths.
  • Once Papua was liberated, another airfield complex was developed at Dobodura, near Buna. Here Frank Wunder Jr. was based. As a measure of magnitude of the WWII air war, when the Dobodura complex was salvaged after WWII ended, about 1,000 junked or abandoned aircraft were counted.
  • The airfield at Nazdab near Lae in Northeast New Guinea was captured from the Japanese by a parachute drop in September 1943 and developed into a complex of landing strips.  From here, Oliver Miller flew to his death near Kavieng, a Japanese base west of Rabaul. 
  • The field at Wau in Northeast New Guinea derived from a 1930s landing strip built to support gold mining in the interior of eastern New Guinea. Wau remained in Australian hands throughout WWII and was one of the few air bases far from water. Thus, operations at Wau had to be supported from the air or from a hastily-built primitive road. One end of the Wau runway abutted hills; thus all landings had to be in the same direction, with no opportunity to abort. Harold Rockwell, based at Nazdab, died in a crash at Wau.
  • Momote Airfield on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands, near where Jerome Trobough died, was an extension of an earlier Japanese airstrip, and is still in use today.
Because of the vast distances in the War with Japan, many WWII air bases in the South Pacific were forward bases, where bombers and their fighter escorts could refuel en route to distant targets, or crippled planes could make emergency landings. Forward bases used by deceased Army Air Force airmen include:
  • Kiriwini Airfield, Trobriand Islands, Papua, in the Solomon Sea.
  • Stirling Airfield, Treasury Islands, S of Bougainville. 
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster US Air Force Deaths in the War with Japan appear on the following webpages:
  • Fifth Air Force - 13 dead
  • Seventh Air Force - 3 dead
  • Thirteenth Air Force - 5 dead
  • Twentieth Air Force - 7 dead
  • The Dutch Indies Lost - 1 dead
  • The Philippines Lost - 11 dead
  • The Battle of Midway - 1 dead
  • ​Western New Guinea - 1 dead
  • Alaska - 2 dead
  • Pacific Base Areas - 3 dead
  • China - 6 dead
  • India - 1 dead
  • Burma - 1 dead
  • Crossing the Hump - 4 dead
  • Japan Vanquished - 1 dead
Total Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster Air Force Dead in the War with Japan: 60, as of 18 Dec 2023