BRIGADIER GENERAL FREDERICK H. SMITH, JR.
COMMANDING GENERAL V FIGHTER COMMAND.

      This combat report of the V Fighter Command is an outgrowth of the hard and often bloody lessons which have been learned by fighter pilots and fighter units in this theater since the early days at Darwin and Port Moresby. The men who have contributed to the text are those who have been through those difficult situations and conditions which are inherent in the Southwest Pacific Area. Their constant and aggressive teamwork have accomplished a rate of attrition against the enemy in excess of 12 to 1.

      Similar texts published in the European theater of operation have outlined battle conditions and situations there; it is hoped that readers of the V Fighter Command report will be able to visualize, and thus arm themselves against the probable enemy counters to our operations, and through lessons learned in the bitter engagements which have gone before, to enhance chances of victories and survival.

FREDERICK H. SMITH, JR.
Brigadier General, USA, Commanding.