page_title: Paul Wurtsmith
section_title: Defense of Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Wurtsmith / World War II / Defense of Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: P-40E of the 7th Fighter Squadron - 49th Fighter Group - Australia - March 1942
context_page_description: Paul Bernard Wurtsmith was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II.
  Enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps as a flying cadet in 1927, Wurtsmith was commissioned in 1928. Over the next 13 years, he served in instructional and command positions.
  He took over command of the 49th Pursuit Group in December 1941 and between March 1942 and January 1943, his fighters downed 78 enemy aircraft in the defense of Darwin in northern Australia, against Japanese air attacks.
  In 1943 he assumed command of the V Fighter Command, part of Major General George Kenney's Fifth Air Force.
  In 1945, he commanded the Thirteenth Air Force in the Southern Philippines and Borneo campaigns. After the war Wurtsmith served with the Strategic Air Command.
  Wurtsmith was killed when his North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber crashed near the summit of Cold Mountain near Asheville, North Carolina, on September 13, 1946.
  In February 1953, the United States Air Force named Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda Township, Michigan, in his honor.
context_section_description: Wurtsmith commanded the 17th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field from September 1939 to July 1940, then the 41st Pursuit Squadron until January 1941. Still at Selfridge Field, he served with the 50th Pursuit Group until December 1941, when he assumed command of the 49th Pursuit Group at Key Field, Mississippi, shortly after the United States entered the war following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
  The 49th Pursuit Group was soon on its way to fight the Japanese in the South West Pacific. Arriving in Australia in February 1942, the 49th Pursuit Group moved to the Darwin area in March and April 1942. By this time, Darwin had been bombed a number of times. The 49th Pursuit Group became its principal defense. Conditions in the area were still primitive, and spare parts and equipment were scarce. Lacking adequate logistical support, the Americans were heavily dependent on their Australian allies. Morale was low, but the sight of Wurtsmith's aircraft patrolling the skies provided an important boost.
  Between December 1941 and March 1942, over 300 P-40 Kittyhawks, 100 P-400 and 90 P-39 Airacobras had been sent to Australia; of these, around 125 had been lost to enemy action in the Dutch East Indies campaign, 75 had been transferred to the RAAF, 74 were under or awaiting repair and perhaps another 100 had yet to be completely assembled. On 18 March, 33 P-39s, 92 P-40s and 52 P-400s were on hand. While there were three USAAF pursuit groups in Australia, the 8th, 35th and 49th, Wurtsmith's was the only one considered combat ready. Of the 102 pilots in his group, only Wurtsmith, with 4,800 hours of pursuit time, and his executive officer, Major Donald R. Hutchinson, with 2,600 hours, were veteran pilots. Five others had more than 600 hours and nine had about 15 hours. The remaining 89 pilots had no pursuit time at all.
  The P-40s were better armored and faster in level flight than the Japanese fighters they were up against, mostly Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes, and could outdive them. On the other hand, the Japanese fighters had greater range, could outclimb the P-40, and were far more maneuverable. For an American P-40 pilot, risking a dogfight with a Japanese fighter was practically suicidal. Wurtsmith attempted to develop tactics that would exploit the strengths of the P-40 and minimize its weaknesses. The two-plane element was fixed as the chief unit of combat, and individual dogfighting was strictly prohibited. The P-40s would attempt to dive into a Japanese formation, attack, and then continue diving at a speed the Japanese fighters could not match. Above all, Wurtsmith attempted to make sure that he had enough P-40s in commission to outnumber the Japanese. The efforts of the ground crews and service troops made this possible. By May 1942, he had lost seven P-40s and three pilots while claiming the destruction of 38 Japanese aircraft. The heaviest Japanese attack had been by nine fighters and 24 bombers, which Wurtsmith had met with 50 P-40s; the P-40 pilots claimed 11 Japanese aircraft shot down. May was the first month that passed without a raid since January but the Japanese returned on four consecutive days in June, with three of these raids consisting of 18 to 20 fighters and 27 bombers. That month nine P-40s and 13 Japanese aircraft were lost. Wurtsmith was promoted to colonel on 6 July 1942. Between March 1942 and January 1943, his fighters claimed to have downed 78 enemy aircraft.
caption: P-40E of the 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group in Australia, March 1942
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