Rabaul

[Tango Echo Dog]

What Navy and Air Force units were at Rabaul from November 1942 to January 1944 and what airfields did they occupy?
Tango Echo Dog

[Ex Shack]

Unless you mean Japanese there were none. Rabaul was captured by the Japanese in Feb 1942 and was by-passed by MacArthur in his campaign that regained the Philippines. It surrendered to the Allies in August 1945 although the Japanese had withdrawn their principal Naval and Air units to Truk by March '44. I don't know the Japanese forces in the area
Regards
Dick

[Jim Oxley]

Thats a question that requires a lot of research to answer. I can give you a lead to several books, but you'll have to do the footwork yourself.

Japan posted a large number of units to Rabaul - both Army and Navy air units - during the period your looking at. Many of them staged through several times for operational tours.

Unfortunately there isn't anything in print (in English) that covers bomber units, other than the Osprey title 'Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko Betty', by Osamu Tagaya. Osamu also has another Osprey book coming soon, titled "Aichi 99 Kanbaku 'Val' Units of World War II".

On the fighter side there are two excellent books that provide detailed info on unit locations. They are "Imperial Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II", by Hata and Izawa; and "Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units And Their Aces, by Hata, Izawa and Shores.