Flight map: Aerodromes and Landing Grounds February 1943

Today, we thought we’d take a step back from specific mission stories for a bigger picture of the Southwest Pacific region. Specifically, a map of the region as it was in the thick of the air war in February 1943. Many of the places involved have changed names, shifted locations or been abandoned entirely (especially emergency airfields), so a contemporary war map can be a more valuable resource than even the full extent of today’s technological mapping tools. This map shows the distance in a straight-line flight between the more important locations in the region, which was essential information for fuel conservation. Combat aircraft always had a reserve buffer of fuel, but that could be eaten away by flying through storms, flying in combat, damage to a fuel tank or engine or a broken component—so an aircrew needed to know all their options for landing short of their home base…