ABSTRACT
Japan's utilization of aircraft in the 1931 seizure of Manchuria had been quite minor, but the 1937 war with China had quickly seen some more ambitious operations. While no long-range, high-capacity bomber force was assembled, medium-range bombers and carrier-based aircraft were available. In 1939 and 1940, production of aircraft, including long-range bomber aircraft, was to rise drastically, although never reaching the levels projected in the more optimistic expansion schemes. As the prospect of Japanese expansion in the Far East became more acute, in 1940 and 1941, a balancing by the United States of the two threats it faced was required. While all the early inclinations were to postpone any decision in the Far East until a satisfactory outcome was accomplished in Europe, the tool of the bomber had gripped the imaginations of the US planners, and it seemed to lend itself to more ambitious plans in the Pacific as well.
