Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office
Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office
Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office
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efore the departure of the Marines for Guadalcanal, strenuous efforts<br />
were made to procure information on Japanese positions. Maj. Gen.<br />
Alexander A. Vandegrift, commanding the ist Marines, was experiencing<br />
a woeful lack of photos, and Navy charts were badly out of<br />
date. In an effort to remedy this situation the 43 5th Squadron of the<br />
x9th Group during June and July had flown a number of reconnaissance<br />
missions over the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area from Port Moresby.<br />
General Vandegrift particularly desired recent photographs of the<br />
north coast of Guadalcanal, the area he was called on to assault. He<br />
received only two, a print of Tulagi and one of the Lunga Point-<br />
Kukum area-both dropped on a carrier by light planes, developed,<br />
and forwarded to the Marine commander by COMAIRSOPAC, and<br />
constituting the first photos to reach General Vandegrift since 24 June.<br />
At no time during 1942 were trained Army personnel or Army<br />
photographic equipment available for photographic work. Cameras<br />
came from the Navy, photographers from the Marines. Only the<br />
xith's B-i7's represented the Army, and this condition remained<br />
SOP until AAF photo and mapping units arrived in 1943. "Quackenbush's<br />
Gypsies," as Lt. Comdr. Robert Quackenbush's naval photo<br />
personnel were named, regularly flew with the heavies on photographic<br />
coverage of the Solomons.<br />
Colonel Saunders' bombardment directive from Admiral McCain<br />
was both general and concise: to hit Tulagi and Guadalcanal with<br />
maximum strength from 31 July to 6 August, inclusive. COMAIR-<br />
SOPAC left the group commander free to carry out this task as he<br />
saw fit, and the i mth forthwith inaugurated heavy bombardment<br />
against the Japanese in the South <strong>Pacific</strong>. During the 7 days, in<br />
addition to 22 sorties for purposes of search, the group flew 56 bombardment<br />
sorties, a most creditable performance in view of the primitive<br />
conditions under which operations labored.<br />
Although the advanced field on Espiritu Santo was reported ready,<br />
Colonel Saunders was skeptical as to its service facilities and decided<br />
to open his attack from Efate, 71o nautical miles from the target at<br />
Guadalcanal. For his first mission on 31 July, Colonel Saunders<br />
mustered every plane possessing a radio compartment tank. Since<br />
each of the nine aircraft thus equipped also carried a bomb-bay tank,<br />
full bomb loads were impossible. But in spite of this considerable<br />
reduction in striking power, the initial blow was a success. Led by<br />
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