Strategy

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Air Superiority — the Key to Victory

The most important struggle for Guadalcanal was the fight over which side controlled the skies over the island. The reason for the American invasion was the Japanese building an airfield there. After the Americans invaded the island and captured the airfield on August 7, 1942, they named it Henderson Field after an American pilot killed at Midway. They soon began placing fighters and bombers at the field and turned the tables on the Japanese.

When the Tokyo Express brought Japanese battleships and cruisers, the main purpose for such an incursion was to bombard Henderson Field. Japanese bombers arrived regularly to drop their loads. Nonetheless, American air strength grew as they added more planes and built additional runways. In time, Guadalcanal took on the characteristics of a “land-based” aircraft carrier. Unlike a carrier, the Americans more easily repaired it when damaged. In addition, it could never sink.

Whenever the Japanese tried bringing more troops to reinforce their men, the American aircraft took off and destroyed nearly every transport ship. Additional Tokyo Express runs that brought warships resulted in American air attacks. The situation became so dangerous for the Imperial Japanese Navy that it had to approach Guadalcanal solely at night to avoid American air assaults.

As time passed, American air strength grew. When the Japanese evacuated their soldiers on February 7, 1943 from Guadalcanal, they had to do that in the darkness of night. The American “land-based” aircraft carrier had more than lived up to that name.