Midway: Plans and Preparations
By March 1942 the Japanese had accomplished their pre-war goals of capturing the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya, together with the rich oil fields which they hoped would supply their economy. Burma was on the […]
Articles by PE Matt
Vickers Wellington
In 1932 the RAF issued a specification for a new twin-engine day bomber, which was to have greater performance than any existing aircraft. Vickers-Armstrong, Handley Page and Armstrong Whitworth were invited to submit proposals, all […]
List of Japanese Submarine Reconnaissance Missions
During the Pacific War, Japanese submarines carried out dozens of reconnaissance missions by flying off small seaplanes. These aircraft were stored within water-tight compartments in the vessel’s hull, before being assembled on deck and catapulted […]
Surface Raiders and Submarines in the Indian Ocean
In 1937 the Osaka Mercantile Steamship line ordered three fast ocean liners for its routes to Africa. The Imperial Japanese Navy, cognizant of the worsening political situation and in the expectation of future wars, insisted […]
Submarine Reconnaissance Missions
One of the lesser known aspects of the air war in the Pacific is the extent to which the Japanese made use of submarine-launched aircraft. Although several navies had experimented with submarine aircraft carriers between […]
The Invasion of Madagascar
Plans to take the Vichy French island of Madagascar, codenamed Operation Ironclad, had been laid even before the Japanese fleet made their incursion into the Indian Ocean in April 1942. The fear was that the […]
Bristol Beaufort
The Bristol Beaufort origination from a 1935 request by the RAF for a twin-engine light reconnaissance and torpedo-bombing aircraft. Two competing designs, the Beaufort and the Blackburn Botha, were both ordered into production before a […]
Martin Maryland
In 1938 the US Army Air Corps issued the specifications for a new light bomber, and the subsequent design competition eventually produced 3 production bombers – the Douglas A-20, North American B-25, and the Martin […]
The Fall of Burma
After the fall of Rangoon in early March 1942, the remaining RAF and AVG aircraft withdrew to Magwe airfield in central Burma, from where they hoped to give what air cover they could to the […]
Boeing 314 Clipper
Pan Am approached several companies with a request for a large flying boat to augment their existing fleet of Sikorsky S-42s and Martin M-130s. The requirements specified an aircraft with enormous range, but still capable […]