Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office

stepping stones to Australia, units largely tied down to a defense for
which they were scarcely adequate.
Nevertheless, preparations for the blow against the Guadalcanal
area went forward. As early as April Tulagi had been designated the
number one American objective in the Solomons. The Marines
began arriving in New Zealand in mid-June; D-day was set originally
for i August, then for as near that date as practicable. Arrangements
were completed whereby General MacArthur's aircraft would search
and bomb in the northern Solomons and strike the airdromes at Lae
and Salamaua.
The final week in July saw the initial B-I7's of the xith Bombardment
Group arrive in the South Pacific, the first squadron landing
during a driving rainstorm at Plaines des Gaiacs airdrome on New
Caledonia. The ixth had been based in Hawaii, was a veteran of
Midway. Now, under the leadership of Col. Laverne G. Saunders,
it was to participate in the assault on Guadalcanal.
The Army Air Forces, seeking to give air striking forces a mobility
analogous to that of major naval units, had initially distrusted committing
heavy bombers to fixed assignments in the islands. The area
was described as "linear in type and of limited depth." Its defense,
it was thought, could be accomplished more economically by holding
major air striking forces at the extremities, and providing bases and
logistical services for their rapid concentration against a threat to
intermediate points. Originally this concept envisaged stationing
heavy bombers only in Hawaii and Australia. However, in July
the ixth Group was ordered to New Caledonia as the Mobile Force,
Central Pacific, and below in Australia the i9th Group was named
the Mobile Force in the Southwest Pacific.
Four days after the new designation, the squadrons of the iith
Group left Hickam Field, the 98th and 42d arriving at Plaines des
In the early stages of the battle for Guadalcanal the AAF was represented by the 1ith
Bombardment Group (H) and the 6 7 th Fighter Squadron. Later the aith was joined by
squadrons of the 5 th Bombardment Group, and still later, replaced by the 3 o7th Bombardment
Group (H). Various other fighter squadrons stationed in rear areas, such as the 12th, 4 4 th,
68th, 7oth, and 3 3 9 "h, all eventually contributed detachments or moved up to the island as did
the 69th and 70th Bombardment Squadrons (M). As the subtitle implies, this narrative is
concerned primarily with the activities of the 6 7 th Fighter Squadron and the iith Bombardment
Group (H). Thus the actions of the 19th Bombardment Group (H), located at Port
Moresby, which were coordinated with the initial attack and subsequent actions on Guadalcanal,
are not detailed here and deserve a separate narrative.
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