In Defence of Singapore
As the British consolidated their air forces on the airfields of Singapore, they took stock of their remaining planes. The fighters of 243 Squadron and 488 (RNZAF) Squadron were in reasonable shape, having been spared […]
History
The Flying Tigers In Defence of Rangoon
Whilst the Pacific War was in its opening weeks, the war in China was also continuing. In Chungking, the irrepressible former US Army pilot, Claire Lee Chennault, was preparing to throw into battle his newly […]
British and Dutch Borneo
The island of Borneo was divided between the Dutch, who controlled most of the central and south of the island, and the British who controlled the northern coastal regions of Sarawak, Brunei and British North […]
The Loss of Northern Malaya
With the Japanese having established a firm foothold on the northern part of the Malayan Peninsula, their troops moved rapidly to capture key British facilities. More army sentai began to fly into the airfields close […]
The Fight for the Philippines
The attack on Clark Field, with which the Japanese had opened their offensive on the Philippines, had decimated the American Far East Air force (FEAF). Half of the FEAF’s vaunted B-17 Flying Fortress bombers had […]
The Defeat of Force Z
As the situation in the Far East deteriorated during the second half of 1941, the British government looked at ways to reinforce their colonies in the Pacific. One of the jewels of the British Empire […]
The South Pacific Air Ferry Route
In mid-1941 the USAAF began to build up its strength in the Philippine Islands. The Far East Air Force was to be reinforced so that it could effectively defend the islands from potential Japanese incursions, […]
Clark Field and the Destruction of the Far East Air Force
The American Far East Air Force (FEAF) was the largest USAAF command outside of the US. In 1940 the FEAF had a pitiful collection of outdated and obsolete P-26 fighters and B-10 bombers, both completely […]
The Invasion of Malaya
The jewel of the British Empire in Asia was the island city-state of Singapore, which was strategically located at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The city controlled the sea routes between the Indian Ocean […]
Wake Island
Wake Island was claimed as a US possession in 1899, after the Spanish-American war. The tiny V shaped coral island lay 2,000 miles from Hawaii, but less than half that distance from key Japanese bases […]