Air Power in the Pacific

Southland Times, Issue 24684, 4 March 1942, Page 4

Air Power in the Pacific

AN AMERICAN newspaper is reported to have stressed the indications that Japan is running short of planes. Reserve machines are said to have been used in the Batan Peninsula, and it is evident that the invaders are receiving less air support in Java than was available in Malaya. Too many hopes should not be based on these reports, although as far as they go they are at least encouraging. It is true that Japan entered the war with a definite superiority in air power; but her first line strength remained an unknown quantity. The New York Times estimated it to be 5000 “combat units,” but placed a question mark after the figures; and other estimates were as low as 3000. One fact which emerges from a study of reports from the Pacific war zone is that the Japanese have seldom, if ever, used more than about 80 planes in a single operation. This is not conclusive evidence that larger air fleets were not available, especially when it is remembered that the raiders were always able to outnumber the defenders—and there is no point in using more machines than are needed to deal effectively with one objective. But the fact becomes more significant in the light of the Java communiques.

The Japanese have had to use their air force on many different fronts, and they have not escaped without losses. In Burma, particularly, the bombers have been roughly treated. And although the enemy is using good equipment which could only have come from well organized war industries no experts believe that he can replace his air losses with a speed comparable with that of American or even British factories. It would be unwise to draw premature conclusions.

Japanese air strength may be adequate for the campaign in Java, especially since it is accompanied by naval supremacy and a numerical superiority in troops. But if the signs are true they should mean only one thing—that the time has come to attack the enemy, wherever he can be reached, until Allied air supremacy is triumphantly established. Then it should be possible to look for a turn of the tide in the Pacific.