Bidspirit auction | The Army Air Forces in

The Army Air Forces in World War II, The Pacific- Guadalcanal To Saipan 1942-44 Vol 4 edited by W F Craven and J L Cate, hardback. The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume IV: The Pacific—Guadalcanal to Saipan (August 1942 to July 1944) is the fourth installment of the definitive, official seven-volume history of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the Second World War. Edited by renowned historians Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, it was originally published in 1950 by the University of Chicago Press for the Office of Air Force History. he volume examines the critical transitional phase of the Pacific War where Allied forces shifted from defensive desperation to a coordinated, multi-pronged offensive against the Japanese Empire. It details operations across three major geographic commands:Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA): Follows General George Kenney’s Fifth Air Force as they pioneered low-altitude bombing, air transport, and paratrooper deployments across New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the isolation of the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul.South Pacific Area (SOPAC): Explores the joint-service air operations of the Thirteenth Air Force during the grueling Guadalcanal campaign, the reduction of the Solomon Islands, and the coordination with Navy and Marine aviation.Central Pacific Area: Highlights the Seventh Air Force as it staged long-range heavy bomber strikes across vast oceanic distances during the island-hopping campaigns through the Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas.Key themesIsland-hopping logistics: Building advanced airfields on remote coral atolls to systematically advance the Allied tactical footprint.Joint-service operations: Navigating complex command structures and operational friction between the USAAF and the U.S. Navy.Strategic positioning: The culmination of the volume with the capture of Saipan, which provided the airfields necessary for the Twentieth Air Force's B-24 and B-29 bombers to strike the Japanese home islands directly. Only one copy on Abebooks, priced at £76.