Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. After December, the official name of the unit became Commander, Aircraft, Solomons (AirSols), but Cactus Air Force was still used frequently to refer to the organization. The term "Cactus" comes from the Allied code name for the island. In April 1943 the organization was redesignated as AirSols.
Read more about Cactus Air Force: Background, Henderson Field, Living Conditions, Commanders, Japanese, Tactics Employed, Coastwatchers, Aftermath, Medal of Honor Recipients, Order of Battle, Aircraft Flown
Famous quotes containing the words cactus, air and/or force:
“This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“He who will one day teach men to fly will have displaced all boundary stones; the boundary stones themselves will fly up into the air to him, and he will rebaptize the earth—as “the weightless.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The body, what is it, Father, but a sign
To love the force that grows us, to give back
What in Thy palm is senselessness and mud?”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)