Resources

On this page I have listed books and sources for documents available publicly that I have found helpful in my research.

Books

Air Combat at 20 Feet: Selected Missions from a Strafer Pilot’s Diary by Garrett Middlebrook

Warpath: A Story of the 345th Bombardment Group (M) in World War II by Schiffer Military Press reprints

Warpath Across the Pacific: The Illustrated History of the 345th Bomb Group During World War II by Lawrence J. Hickey

We Band of Brothers by R.E. Peppy Blount

A True Flyer: Memories of a World War II Air Apache by Senath Rankin and Jay W. Moore

World War II: A Legacy of Letters – One Soldier’s Journey by Clinton Frederick

Bats Outa Hell Over Biak by Max B. Ferguson

The School That Fell From the Sky by Fred Hargesheimer

Black Sunday: When the U.S. Fifth Air Force Lost to New Guinea Weather by Michael J. Claringbould

Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul – Australia’s Worst Military Disaster of World War II by Bruce Gamble

Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943 by Bruce Gamble

Invasion Rabaul by Bruce Gamble

Target Rabaul: The Allied Seige of Japan’s Most Infamous Stronghold, March 1943-August 1945 by Bruce Gamble

Gunfight at Rabaul: The True Story of an Unescorted Raid by B-25 Strafers by William H. Cather

A WWII Memoire by Kenneth C. Gastgeb, a self-published manuscript.

Seige of Rabaul by Henry Sakaida

Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric M. Bergerud

The Saga of Pappy Gunn by George C. Kenney

Private to Pilot WW2 by Thomas G. Dye

Into the Dragon’s Jaws/the Fifth Air Force Over Rabaul, 1943 by Lex McAulay

Exploding Fuel TanksSaga of Technology That Changed the Course of the Pacific Air War by Richard L. Dunn

The Toughest Fighting in the World: The Australian and American Campaign for New Guinea in World War II by George H. Johnston

Spartanburg County in World War II (SC) (Images of America) by Anita Price Davis and James M. Walker

From Poplar to Papua: Montana’s 163rd Infantry Regiment in World War II by Martin J. Kidston

Time in Hell: The Battle for Buna, The Story of Company F, 127th Infantry by Richard A. Stoelb

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series Three Air, Volume II, Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, by George Odgers. [Pdf available through: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417316 ]

Into the Dragon’s Jaws, the Fifth Air Force Over Rabaul, 1943, by Lex MacAulay

“Walk Back to Wewak”, by R.A. Graetz [pdf available in the January 2000 edition of The Whisperer, The Newsletter of the Beaufighter and Boston Association of Queensland by following this link: https://www.ozatwar.com/raaf/whisperer/january2000.pdf ]

At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy, by R.J. Bulkley

Sink ‘Em All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, by Charles A. Lockwood

Okinawa: The Last Battle. United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific, by R.E. Appleman, J.M. Burns, R.A. Gugeler, and J. Stevens [Viewable online at: https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/ ]

History of U.S. Marine Corps: Operations in World War II. Volume 5: Victory and Occupation, by B.M. Frank and H.I. Saw, Jr. [Viewable online at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/V/index.html ]

Movies and Video

Fires on the Plain Kon Ichikawa director. In Japanese with English subtitles. DVD

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun Kinju Fukasaku director. In Japanese with English subtitles. DVD

How to Fly the B-25 Mitchell U.S. Army Air Force Training film. 1944. Zeno’s Warbird Video. DVD

Mission to Rabaul 5th AAF footage. 1944. Zeno’s Warbird Video. DVD

Air Operations Lae-Salamaua 5th AAF footage. 1944 Zeno’s Warbird Video. DVD

Winged Artillery 5th AAF footage. 1944. Zeno’s Warbird Video. DVD

From Taiwan to New Guinea Futuru Tsai director. In Chinese with English subtitles. DVD

Online Resources

Maps

The Perry-Castaneda Map Collection, UT Collection Online, https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

Australian National University, Open Research Repository, https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/2

Monash University, Monash Collections Online, https://repository.monash.edu/

NAMRIA, the Central Mapping Agency of the Government of the Philippines, http://www.namria.gov.ph/download.php

TROVE, National Library of Australia, https://trove.nla.gov.au

Documents

Photographic Interpretation Handbook, United States Forces. Office of the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence, HQ, US Army Air Forces and Photographic Interpretation Center, Division of Naval Intelligence, Navy Department: April 1944, https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dodmilintel/

Enlisted Pilots 1912-1945. The National Museum of the United States Air Force. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196120/enlisted-pilots-1912-1945/

ONI 208-J Supplement 2 Far-Eastern Small Craft. Division of Naval Intelligence, Office of Naval Intelligence. January 1945.

ONI 208-J Supplement 3 Standard Classes of Japanese Merchant Ships. Division of Naval Intelligence, Office of Naval Intelligence. January 1945.

ONI 223-M Merchant Ship Shapes. Division of Naval Intelligence, Office of Naval Intelligence. 1944. Available for download at: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/ships/merchantshipshapes/Merchant%20Ship%20Shapes.pdf

FM30-50 Recognition Pictorial Manual of Naval Vessels. US War Department and US Navy Department. September 1943. Available for download at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/NewPDFs/USN/ONI%20Recognition%20Manuals%20and%20other%20material/ONI%20FM.30-50.Recognition.Manual.Naval.Vessels.pdf