Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942 (1st edition, 1962)

This volume is concerned mainly with the air war against Japan from December 1941 to the end of the first quarter of 1943 when air superiority was first wrested from the Japanese. It describes particularly the experiences and achievements of the Australian airmen who fought as integrated RAAF units or as members of units of the British and American air forces in Malaya, Burma, the East Indies and under General MacArthur in the South-West Pacific.

In both time and geography the scope is wide. The opening chapters describe the genesis of the Royal Australian Air Force, its history between the wars and the problems of the development of the force in Australia and the Far Eastern theatre before the Japanese onslaught opened.

It has been necessary to look back to the very beginnings of aviation in Australia - as far back as 1909 - and to extend the frame of the whole picture to include all the essential outside influences. There is thus a concentration on 43 months of war set within an over-all time span of more than 30 years.

• Contents, Illustrations, Maps, Diagram, and Preface (pages i - xiii )
• Chapter 1 – Formation of the Royal Australian Air Force (pages 1 - 30 )
• Chapter 2 – Salmond to Ellington (pages 31 - 57 )
• Chapter 3 – Demand versus Capacity (pages 58 - 78 )
• Chapter 4 – The Empire Plan: Doctrines and Decisions (pages 79 - 89 )
• Chapter 5 – The New Command (pages 90 - 120 )
• Chapter 6 – Sea Lane Protection and Aircraft Production (pages 121 - 140 )
• Chapter 7 – The Malay Barrier (pages 141 - 172 )
• Chapter 8 – American Preparations (pages 173 - 189 )
• Chapter 9 – Degrees of Readiness (pages 190 - 206 )
• Chapter 10 – Japan's Seven–point Assault (pages 207 - 234 )
• Chapter 11 – The Price of Hesitation (pages 234 - 263 )
• Chapter 12 – “Hours Not Days” (pages 264 - 274 )
• Chapter 13 – The Barrier Weakens (pages 275 - 291 )
• Chapter 14 – Australia Becomes a Base (pages 292 - 304 )
• Chapter 15 – Token Resistance (pages 305 - 322 )
• Chapter 16 – Malaya Convoys: January 1942 (pages 323 - 332 )
• Chapter 17 – Withdrawal from Singapore (pages 333 - 352 )
• Chapter 18 – The Fall of Rabaul (pages 353 - 368 )
• Chapter 19 – Ambon and After (pages 369 - 381 )
• Chapter 20 – On Sumatra (pages 382 - 400 )
• Chapter 21 – Retreat from Burma (pages 401 - 416 )
• Chapter 22 – Loss of Timor and Java (pages 417 - 445 )
• Chapter 23 – Assult on New Guinea (pages 446 - 469 )
• Chapter 24 – Command and Supply (pages 470 - 494 )
• Chapter 25 – The China–Burma–India Theatre (pages 495 - 514 )
• Chapter 26 – Coral Sea and Midway (pages 515 - 535 )
• Chapter 27 – “No Second Front” (pages 536 - 569 )
• Chapter 28 – Problems of Command (pages 570 - 598 )
• Chapter 29 – Kokoda and Milne Bay (pages 599 - 622 )
• Chapter 30 – Advance to Buna (pages 623 - 652 )
• Chapter 31 – Gona, Buna, Sanananda (pages 653 - 678 )
• Chapter 32 – Wau and the Bismarck Sea (pages 679 - 707 )
• Appendix 1 – Military Aviation 1909–1914 (pages 708 - 711 )
• Appendix 2 – The Air Force List – 1925 (pages 712 - 713 )
• Appendix 3 – The RAAF in the Darwin Raids (pages 714 - 716 )
• Appendix 4 – Australian, British, American and Japanese Aricraft (pages 717 - 750 )
• Appendix 5 – Abbreviations (pages 751 - 754 )
• Index (pages 755 - 786 )