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2/1/42 VIII Bomber Command is activated at Langley Field in Virginia and VIII Interceptor Command is activated at Selfridge Field in Michigan.
2/1/42 P-40’s from Bataan Peninsula bomb and strafe landing barges off Quinauan Point on the western coast of the Bataan Peninsula. These strikes, in conjunction with US naval and field artillery fire, cause considerable damage and casualties but fail to prevent the Japanese landings which take place South of the point.
2/2/42 The VII Interceptor Command is activated in Hawaii, with General Davidson, commanding. General Hale commands VII Bomber Command.
2/5/42 In restructuring of the Far East, Caribbean, Hawaiian, and Alaskan Air Forces commands are re-designated Fifth Air Force (AF), Sixth AF, Seventh AF, and Eleventh
AF, respectively.
2/6/42 The US War Department (WD) announced the creation of US-British CCS in Washington. The Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) was the supreme military staff for the western Allies during World War II.
2/9/42 12 B-17‘s of the 7th Air Force are detached and released to CINCPAC (Commander In Chief, Pacific) for assignment to Navy Task Force (TF) 11 for operations in South Pacific.
2/9/42 Between the 9th and the 18th, heavy bombers (HBs) of the 5th Air Force in the Southwest Pacific fly at least 14 missions, but they result in claims of only 3 hits on Japanese shipping.
2/12/42 General Hap Arnold announces that 16 heavy bomber groups and 3 pursuit groups and 8th photo recon squadrons will be sent to the United Kingdom (UK) during 1942.
2/12/42 The Tenth Air Force is activated at Patterson Field in Ohio. The 10th AF would deploy overseas to the CBI (China Burma India).
2/14/42 A B-17 of the 7th Air Force, flies a photo recon mission of Wake Island.
2/15/42 In southeast Asia, Japanese forces on the Malay Peninsula capture Singapore.
2/15/42 In the United Kingdom (UK) Lieutenant Colonel Townsend Griffiss, aide to General Chaney, is killed when the aircraft on which he is a passenger is mistakenly shot down by RAF (British Royal Air Force) Polish fliers. He is first US airman to die in line of duty in Europe since the US entered World War II. The 8th Air Force base at Bushy Park is later named Camp Griffiss in his honor.
2/17/42 Colonel Harry A. Halverson becomes the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 10th Air Force.
2/17/42 Colonel Lionel H. Dunlap arrives in Alaska from the Zone of the Interior (ZI) and becomes Commanding Officer (CO) of the Eleventh Air Force.
2/19/42 Operating out of Malang, Madioen, and Jogjakarta, US A-24’s, with P-40 fighter/pursuit escort, and B-17‘s of the 5th Air Force attack vessels landing Japanese troops on Bali. The attacks, carried out during the afternoon of 19 Feb and throughout the morning of 20 Feb, cause considerable damage to vessels but fail to halt the landings. P-40’s shoot down or turn back several bombers sweeping west over Java. Japanese airplane attack Darwin, bombing vessels loaded with troops destined for defense of Koepang on Timor Island. 10 US P-40’s sent to Darwin to escort the convoy are almost entirely wiped out by the attack.
2/19/42 In the 7th Air Force, the VII Bomber Command is activated.
2/20/42 General Ira Eaker arrives in the UK with 6 staff officers forming the AAFIB, Army Air Force In Britain.
2/21/42 General Brett, Deputy Commanding General, ABDACOM, informs the War Department of his decision to evacuate Fifth AF and other US troops from the islands of Java. Fifth AF bombers at Java bases fly about 20 strikes, usually in 2-and 3-aircraft elements, against shipping in Java Sea and against targets on the island of Bali from this date through 1 March. 11 of these strikes are
complete failures; the remainder, although causing some damage to Japanese vessels and air force facilities, fail to deter the enemy’s invasion of Java.
2/23/42 Headquarters VIII Bomber Command (HQ VIII BC) of the 8th Air Force is established in the United Kingdom (UK) under the command of General Ira Eaker.
2/23/42 Fifth AF B-17’s fly their first mission against Rabaul. Operating out of Townsville, Australia, the force suffers mechanical trouble and runs into bad weather. Only 1 heavy bomber (HB) manages to bomb the target. General Brereton, 5th AF, Commanding General, departs for India after issuing order terminating HQ Fifth AF. Until 3 Sep 42, units of Fifth AF will be initially under control of ABDACOM and then Allied Air Force Southwest Pacific Area (AAF SWPA).
2/23/42 Japanese submarine I-17 fires 13 rounds of 5 1/2-inch shells from range of 2,500 yards at an oil refinery North of Santa Barbara on the California Coast. Pursuit and bomber aircraft sent to the area are unable to destroy the sub.
2/24/42 US Heavy Bomber units of the 5th Air Force begin evacuating bases on Java.
2/25/42 General James Chaney of (USAFBI) US Air Force British Isles, instructs General Eaker and staff of VIII Bomber Command to proceed to HQ, RAF BC (Headquarters, Royal Air Force Bomber Command) for study of bombing operations, and to make recommendations of certain A/Fs and submit plans for reception and assignment of US AAF
units.
2/27/42 Allied air units of the 5th Air Force fight the Battle of the Java Sea. They try to stop a Japanese convoy of some 80 ships approaching Java from the Northeast. All available B-17’s, A-24’s, P-40’s and LB-30’s are put into the air but achieve very few results. During this time most of the Fifth AF ground echelon in Java is evacuated by sea. The Sea Witch delivers 27 crated P-40’s to Tjilatjap, Java, but these will be destroyed to prevent their falling into Japanese hands. 32 P-40’s aboard the USS Langley, which sailed from Australia for India on 23 Feb, are lost when the Langley is sunk by aircraft 100 miles South of Tjilatjap. The pilots are rescued by other vessels in the convoy, but the Japanese sink these ships with the exception of a destroyer, which delivers 2 of the pilots to Perth, Australia.
Q1: What numbered Air Forces were created in the February 1942 reorganization?
A1: On February 5, 1942, the Far East, Caribbean, Hawaiian, and Alaskan Air Forces were redesignated as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Air Forces.
Q2: What Southeast Asian city fell to Japan in February 1942?
A2: Japanese forces captured Singapore on February 15, 1942, one of the most significant Allied defeats of the early Pacific War.
Q3: Who was the first US airman killed in Europe during WWII?
A3: Lt. Col. Townsend Griffiss was killed on February 15, 1942, when his aircraft was mistakenly shot down by RAF Polish pilots, becoming the first US airman to die in the European theater.
Q4: What happened during the Battle of the Java Sea in February 1942?
A4: On February 27, Fifth Air Force aircraft attempted to stop a large Japanese invasion convoy approaching Java, achieving few results, while ground forces evacuated the island by sea.
Q5: What loss did the USS Langley suffer in late February 1942?
A5: The USS Langley, carrying 32 P-40 fighters toward Java, was sunk by Japanese aircraft on February 27, 1942, though most of the pilots aboard were rescued.
February 1942: The Collapse of the East Indies and the Formal Architecture of a Global Air Force
a. The mood of the country
By February 1942, the American public was absorbing a second consecutive month of dispiriting news from the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The fall of Singapore on February 15, described by Winston Churchill himself as the worst disaster in British military history, reverberated through American press coverage as well, since it signaled that no fortified Allied position in the region seemed capable of withstanding the Japanese offensive. Coming on the heels of Manila's fall in January, this chronology's steady drumbeat of retreats, from Bataan to Java to the Java Sea, would have reinforced a national mood of anxious endurance rather than confidence, tempered only by the knowledge that mobilization and counter-offensive planning were now underway in earnest.
b. Economic situation and manufacturing capability
February 1942 sits early in the industrial mobilization curve, and this chronology's operational entries reflect that reality starkly. Entries describing repeated missions "with negative results," aircraft claims limited to "3 hits" across 14 missions, and the destruction of 27 crated P-40s at Tjilatjap simply to prevent their capture illustrate an air force still working with limited numbers of aircraft it could not yet easily replace. General Arnold's February 12 announcement of plans to send sixteen heavy bomber groups to the UK during 1942 represented a statement of intent built on production targets that American industry, only beginning full wartime conversion, had not yet met. The gap between strategic ambition (a growing bomber offensive against Germany) and immediate operational reality (a shrinking, poorly supplied force fighting a losing battle in the East Indies) is the central economic tension visible in this month's events.
c. Status, readiness, and supply of US armed forces
This chronology documents, in granular detail, the final unraveling of American and Allied air power in the Netherlands East Indies. The evacuation of Fifth Air Force from Java, the repeated "complete failure" designations attached to bombing strikes against the invasion fleet, and the loss of 32 P-40s aboard the sunk USS Langley collectively show a theater where supply lines, aircraft numbers, and trained replacement pilots simply could not sustain a defense against a numerically and logistically superior Japanese advance. At the same time, the entry describing a Japanese submarine shelling the California coast near Santa Barbara on February 23 is a reminder that homeland air defense readiness, largely untested since Pearl Harbor, was also being probed, even if the incident itself caused little damage.
d. Development of fighting men and command structures
February 1942 is arguably the single most important organizational month in this early-war period. The February 5 redesignation of the Far East, Caribbean, Hawaiian, and Alaskan Air Forces into the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Air Forces established the numbered-Air-Force command structure that would define Army Air Forces organization for the rest of the war. Simultaneously, the buildup in Britain accelerated meaningfully: General Eaker's arrival with staff to form the Army Air Force In Britain, and the February 23 establishment of VIII Bomber Command headquarters under his leadership, mark the true organizational birth of the force that would eventually conduct the Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany. The death of Lt. Col. Townsend Griffiss on February 15, the first American airman killed in the European theater, is a small but symbolically significant entry, marking the moment the air war in Europe began extracting its first American cost even before large-scale combat operations had commenced.
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