The Forgotten Air Force: The Royal Air Force in the War Against Japan 1941-1945

The role of the Royal Air Force in the Far Eastern war has received much less attention from historians than its many activities in the war against Germany and Italy. Indeed, just as the Fourteenth Army was and still is referred to as the Forgotten Army so can the airmen and airwomen who fought alongside them reasonably consider themselves the Forgotten Air Force. This book recalls and explains their achievements and pays them their rightful tribute.The Forgotten Air Force covers, among other things, the problems of the 1930s as they affected the RAF in the Far East, the sad tale of events in 1941/1942 in Singapore and elsewhere, the strategic issues affecting the air war in South-East Asia from then on, the contribution to the military operations in Burma, and the RAF preparations for the assault on Malaya and on Japan itself. While basing much of it on official records, Air Commodore Henry Probert also draws on many private accounts to illustrate the very difficult conditions under which all had to work - ground personnel as well as aircrew. It shows how they, co-operating so closely with their Army and Navy colleagues, and with the Americans, helped ensure that triumph would eventually follow tragedy.