T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
which was the 8th, had disembarked at Brisbane on 10 March, but
only the 49th Group, which had come in early in February, was con-
sidered ready for combat. The explanation for this and similar delays
in preparing other units is readily revealed by a glance at the level of
experience of the 49th’~1 0 2 pilots at the time of their arrival in the
theater. Lt. Col. Paul B. Wurtsmith, its commanding officer, and his
executive, Maj. Donald R. Hutchinson, were veteran pilots with 4,800
and 2,600 hours of pursuit time, respectively. Five other pilots had
more than 600 hours, and nine were credited with about 15 hours,
but the remaining eighty-nine pilots had no pursuit time at all.22As
for the 35th, its more experienced pilots had been drafted for service
with the provisional squadrons hurriedly organized for operation in
the Netherlands East Indies, and such of them as had survived had
been assigned to rest and recuperation in the hope that their battle
experience might soon be put to use in the training of other pilots.
Once again men struggled against the disadvantages that had beset
their efforts in the Philippines and then in the Netherlands East Indies.
They worked against time, enjoyed few of the benefits of previous
preparation, and improvised as they went, in an attempt to meet the
changing requirements of a highly fluid tactical situation. An organi-
zation geared to the requirements of service and supply for operations
in Java had to be readjusted to the tactical demands of a defense of
Australia, Once more it was necessary to integrate activities with those
of an ally; the Americans were dependent upon the Australians for
communications and were forced to rely heavily upon them in all
matters of administration; and once more good will on both sides was
in itself insufficient to overcome all of the difficulties. The penalties
of haste proved to be none the less because the haste was unavoidable.
Although General Brett early in January had urged upon the authori-
ties in Washington a policy of shipping the unit and its essential equip-
ment together, some organizations continued to arrive without their
equipment, with the result that days, and on occasion even weeks,
might pass before it could be Yet, within two weeks of the
final collapse of Allied resistance on Java, American pursuit units were
making their presence felt in the defense of Australia’s outposts.
Especially depressing was the bomber situation. With twenty-six
B-I~’s,forty-three A-24’~’and one or two each of the A-20’s and
B-25’s on hand, only twelve heavy and twenty-seven dive bombers
were in commission on 18 MarcheZ4Neither the 7th nor the 19th
4 1 2