<p>They started with small cadres and aging airplanes. Their fighters were the Bell P-39 and the Curtiss P-40; their bombers the early North American B-25 and the Douglas A-20. A handful of heavy bombers and some Douglas C-47 transports completed the fleet. With that strength, commanders were told, keep the Japanese at bay until Hitler is beaten.
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<p>The Fifth Air Force, moving back toward the Philippines with General Douglas MacArthur, began at the nadir of his retreat to Australia. The Seventh Air Force left an idyllic life in Hawaii, and set out for another assemblage of islands, and another, and another.
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<p>The Tenth in India and the Fourteenth in China struggled in strange environments to hold and beat back the Japanese. When they needed support, it was the China-India Wing of Air Transport Command that flew its C-47s and C-46s over the treacherous air routes of the 'Hump' to move precious cargoes nearer the front.
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<p>The Jungle Air Force, the Thirteenth, began in the lush greenery of New Caledonia, and moved through the Pacific with the Marines and the Navy, rolling back Japanese forces. And in the frozen north, the Eleventh tussled with the toughest weather imaginable, fought their battles in defense of US territory, and finally presided over a beaten Japanese invasion attempt.
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<p>Then, just about when the world began to notice these unheralded heroes of the hinterlands, the Superfortresses of the Twentieth Air Force came in, and proceeded to make the final surrender of Japan inevitable. In doing so, they drew much of the attention and nearly all of the glory.
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<p>Think in these perspectives. The Pacific is a monstrous theater of war, a vast water mass 4,000-5,000 miles (6,440-8,050 km) in diameter. Yawata, Japan's Pittsburgh, was 1,500 miles (2,415 km) from the closest forward bases in China, and Tokyo was 2,000 miles (3,220 km) away. From Australia to Balikpapan was more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km). You could fly northwest from Australia for 1,000 miles and still be over New Guinea. Sumatra, Java and the Philippines are all 1,000 miles long. From Saipan, Tinian and Guam it was 1,600 miles (2,575 km) to Tokyo, one-way.
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<p>The first task in the Pacific was to contain the Japanese, the second job was to roll them back and seize their bases, and the third was to hit Japan itself. It had to be done in that order.
