Far East Air Force (United States)

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For other usages, see Far East Air Force (disambiguation).

The Far East Air Force (FEAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States Army in the Philippines just prior to and at the beginning of World War II. Formed on August 4, 1941, FEAF was the predecessor of the Fifth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force.

Initially FEAF also included aircraft and personnel of the Philippine Army Air Corps. It was largely destroyed during the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42). When the remnants of the small heavy bombardment force were withdrawn from Mindinao in late December 1941 to bases in Australia, Headquarters FEAF accompanied it. Nearly all ground and flying personnel, number nearly 7,000 men, were then used as ad hoc infantry units on Bataan, where most surrendered on 9 April 9 1942. The surviving personnel and aircraft were re-organised in Australia in 5 February 1942 as the U.S. Fifth Air Force.

United States Far East Air Forces, also known as FEAF, was organized on 3 August 1944 as a headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, under the command of Gen. George Kenney to oversee the operations of the Fifth, Thirteenth and Seventh Air Forces. Although using the same acronym, the two organizations were not related.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1941-42

Far East Air Force was created as the Philippine Department Air Force on 6 May 1941 as the United States hurriedly attempted to expand its air defenses in the Philippines. It consisted of 210 aircraft, mostly obsolescent P-26s, P-35s which had been diverted from a sale to Sweden in November 1940, B-10s, B-18s which had been shipped in March, A-29s, C-39s, and various observation planes, but also 31 P-40Bs which had arrived in April. PDAF Headquarters was located at Nielson Field, however, the majority of the planes were at either Clark Field or Nichols Field.

On 26 July 1941, United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) was created by the War Department to reorganize the defenses of the Philippines against a Japanese invasion. The PDAF was renamed Far East Air Force on 4 August 1941, and consolidated with the Philippine Army Air Corps on 15 August 1941 as part of the USAFFE.

Also in July, Chief of the Army Air Forces, Major General Henry H. Arnold, proposed sending four heavy bombardment groups (340 bombers including spares) and two pursuit groups (260 fighters) to the Philippines, as reinforcements for the Far East Air Force.

[edit] Reinforcements in autumn, 1941

By 2 October, 81 P-40s had been shipped to the islands, and nine B-17s of the 14th Bombardment Squadron (11th Bomb Group, based in Hawaii) had pioneered an air ferry route from Hawaii to the Philippines. Two squadrons of the 19th Bombardment Group (H) followed in November. With the attachment to the 19th BG of the 14th and 28th Bomb Squadrons (the latter had been a longtime part of the recently disbanded 4th Composite Group), a total of 35 B-17 Flying Fortresss constituted the FEAF's heavy bombardment force.

By March of 1942, the War Department planned to have 165 heavy bombers and 240 fighters based in the Philippines. The 7th Bombardment Group (H) staged in California and B-17s of its 38th and 88th Reconnaissance Squadrons were en route when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Army Chief of Staff General Marshall wrote on December 1, 1941, "We must get every B-17 to the Philippines as soon as possible."

Two squadrons of the 35th Pursuit Group reached Luzon at the end of November 1941, were attached to the 24th Pursuit Group, and received their aircraft the day before the outbreak of hostilities. Its two other squadrons, and the 52 A-24 Banshee dive bombers of the recently arrived 27th Bombardment Group (Light) were in convoys en route to the Philippines but were diverted to Australia.

Major General Lewis H. Brereton became the commander of FEAF on 3 November 1941.

[edit] FEAF, 8 December 1941

The final FEAF order of battle:

  • V Bomber Command
    • 19th Bomb Group (Heavy)
      • 14th Bomb Squadron (Del Monte Field, 5 December, 8 B-17)
      • 28th Bomb Squadron (Clark Field, 8 B-17)
      • 30th Bomb Squadron (Clark Field, 9 B-17)
      • 93rd Bomb Squadron (Del Monte Field, 5 December, 8 B-17)
    • 27th Bomb Group (Light) (without aircraft)
      • 16th Bomb Squadron (Fort McKinley)
      • 17th Bomb Squadron (San Fernando Field)
      • 91st Bomb Squadron (San Marceleno Field)
  • V Interceptor Command
    • 24th Pursuit Group
      • 3rd Pursuit Squadron (Iba Field, 18 P-40E)
      • 17th Pursuit Squadron (Nichols Field, 18 P-40E)
      • 20th Pursuit Squadron (Clark Field, 18 P-40B)
    • 35th Pursuit Group (headquarters enroute to Philippines)
      • 21st Pursuit Squadron (attached 24th PG, Nichols Field, 18 P-40E rec'd 7 December)
      • 34th Pursuit Squadron (attached 24th PG, Del Carmen Field, 18 P-35A rec'd 7 December)
    • 6th Pursuit Squadron, Philippine Army Air Corps (Batangas Field, 12 P-26)

The number in () indicate the number of aircraft that were in commission. Where un-noted, the number of usable aircraft is unknown.

There were additional aircraft attached to the Philippine Army Air Corps.

Within 130 km of Manila, there were six airfields. Outside of Luzon, there were another six airfields. In August 1941, $10,000,000 was spent to improve the airfields. Most of these funds were spent on Nichols and Clark Fields, with the rest spent mostly on auxiliary fields at Iba, on the Zambales coast, to the west of Clark, and various points on northern Luzon.

Clark Field was originally the only base that could support heavy bombers. On 27 November 1941 the newly arrived 5th Air Base Group was hurried to Mindanao to begin work on a second bomber base, Del Monte Field, to be the base of the 7th Bomb Group. Construction of one strip was completed by 5 December, when the first B-17s were dispersed from Clark, but no maintenance facilities and only a single radio were operating when war commenced. Another bomber base was scheduled for construction in the Visayas.

[edit] FEAF support units and personnel, December 8, 1941

As of November 31, the force contained 4,940 enlisted troops, under the command of 669 officers. The August strength was at 2,049 enlisted troops, under the command of 254 officers.

The numbers in brackets indicate the number of personnel, as of November 31.

  • Far East Air Force Headquarters (147)
    • Far East Air Service Command (237)
    • Philippine Army Air Corps
    • Other
      • Tow Target Detachment (49)
      • 5th Communications Detachment
      • 5th Weather Detachment (20)
      • 5th Chemical Detachment (180)
      • 803d Engineering Detachment
      • 809th Engineering Detachment
      • 409th Signal/Communications Detachment
      • 429th Maintenance Detachment
      • Philippine Aircraft Warning Detachment

[edit] Warning systems

By the time of the Japanese invasion, the force possessed seven radar sets but only two were in operation, at Iba and outside Manila. One U.S. Marine mobile set was going into position on Batangas Bay and would be in operation on 10 December, one had just reached position at Burgos in northern Luzon, two (one fixed and the other mobile) were going into position at Jose Panganiban in Camarines Norte, and one, lacking a power plant, was in storage.

Early warning of air attack was provided by one air warning service company of ~200 troops. The 557th Air Warning Battalion was earmarked to provide a more sophisticated early warning defense, and was in San Francisco, en route, on 6 December.

In lieu of working equipment and adequate personnel, USAFFE organized a primitive civil warning service consisting of civilian watchers, largely postmasters, who would report plane movements by telephone (or telegraph) to the V Interceptor Command.

According to Col. A.H. Campbell, who was primarily responsible for development of warning and communications facilities in the Philippines, it was planned to establish nineteen radar stations: eight on Luzon, three on Mindanao, and one each on Lubang, Samar, Palawan, Jolo, Basilan, Tablas, Panay, and Negros islands. Subsequent revised plans to build three detector stations and an information center in 1942 were also never completed.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Wesley F. Craven and James L. Cate, 1948-58, The Army Air Forces in World War II. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).