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  • Allied Counteroffensive

    In the spring of 1944, the Japanese began a series of successful offensives and by year's end had driven the 14th Air Force from many of its forward bases and had established a continuous line of communications from French Indo-China to North China. During the offensive, however, 14th Air Force

  • China Operations

    In China, the Flying Tigers were inducted into the AAF's 23rd Fighter Group on July 4, 1942, at which time Brig. Gen. Claire Chennault's force had an effective strength of about 35 P-40s and seven B-25 medium bombers. Designated originally as the China Air Task Force, less than a year later, in

  • Burma Campaign

    As the Allies gradually received reinforcements, the RAF and the 10th Air Force were able to win air superiority over the Japanese in Burma, and medium bombers and fighter bombers undertook energetic campaigns against enemy river traffic, bridges and railroads. In March 1944 Allied transport

  • The "Hump": Lifeline to China

    Burma lies like a giant wedge between India and China, and after its occupation by the Japanese, the only link between these two countries was a hazardous air route across the rugged Himalaya Mountains -- the famed "Hump." The obstacles posed by terrain and the extremes in climate were difficulties

  • War on the Asian Mainland

    Until late in the war, operations against the enemy on the Asian mainland in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, were hindered by a tangled chain of Allied command, the long distance from sources of resupply and the very low priority of men and material given to the theater. The primary purpose of

  • Runways By Hand: China's Support of the Air War

    During World War II, the United States and China forged a strong friendship based on the mutual need to defeat Japan. A key Chinese contribution involved thousands of workers using stone rollers to construct hundreds of airfields by hand throughout China to support Allied air operations.Runways

  • First Over the 'Hump:' The China National Aviation Corporation

    In early 1940, lone DC-3 passenger aircraft of the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) cautiously probed over and around the highest mountains in the world seeking air routes between China and India ... and to the outside world. CNAC's great success in finding these vital air routes led to

  • Turning the Tide in New Guinea

    Attacking at treetop level, Allied aircrews withstood deadly ground fire to strafe Japanese airfields and shipping. Adding to devastation inflicted by their machine guns, the low-flying attackers destroyed Japanese aircraft on the ground with 23-pound fragmentation bombs. At the suggestion of

  • Back to the Philippines

    The Battle of the Coral Sea and the fight at Guadalcanal in 1942 ended the Japanese drive across the Southwest Pacific, but Japanese troops still controlled the northern half of New Guinea. Before Gen. Douglas MacArthur could begin his drive to liberate the Philippines, he had to defeat the enemy

  • Col. Neel E. Kearby: Pacific Thunderbolt Ace

    Col. Neel E. Kearby, a Medal of Honor recipient, developed aggressive tactics that exploited the strengths of the P-47 Thunderbolt. With 22 victories, he became the highest-scoring Thunderbolt pilot in the Pacific Theater. Moreover, Kearby's tactics as commander of the first P-47 unit in the Pacific