Pacific Air War Requirements Estimate

Planning the composition of the Pacific Air Forces for the Battle of Japan went through many iterations and was continuing to evolve at war’s end. Each service (Army and Navy) made its own regular plans which evolved month by month through 1945. This section of the website relies on the July versions of the service plans and on JCS 1488, which was a summary of both services plans and included consideration of the contribution of the British Pacific Fleet.

The first page of this section is the text of the report. Note that the main change recommended is for a greater reliance on B-29s at the lesser reliance on B-17s redeployed from Europe.

The Land Based Requirements page includes the graphic from JCS 1455 and an analysis of the units that fill the requirements outlined. These units would come mainly from those in the Pacific and those redeployed from Europe. A few veteran units from China and new units from the United States would round out the plan.

The Naval Land Based Requirements page includes the graphic from JCS 1455 that covers the USMC land based units and the Navy’s land and float planes.

The Naval Carrier Based Requirement page includes the graphic from JCS 1455 that lists the number of carriers that would be available in the Pacific through 1946. Alongside this chart is a list of USN aircraft carriers from that service’s July estimate of current and future complement of aircraft carriers.

Similarly, the page on the composition of carrier air groups compares the summary information from JCS 1455 with the much more detailed information from the navy’s July 1945 documents.

The British Pacific Fleet page provides a similar analysis for the aircraft carriers and air groups of the British Pacific Fleet.

The 1945 production lists the relevant U.S. Army and Navy’s aircraft models and manufacturers as well as the quantities produced in the first eight months of 1945. This gives an indication of the prospective evolution of air force equipment types into 1946.