United States Army Air Force
Both Fifth (5th) and Thirteenth (13th) Air Forces operated in New Guinea and the Solomons. Units involved included a range of heavy, medium and light bombers, such as B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Maurader, and A-20 Havoc. Fighters included the P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning and P-39 Airacobra.

United States Navy
Participated in many actions of the waters of the Solomons and New Guinea, including the landing at Guadalcanal, Battle of the Coral Sea and Santa Cruz. Units operated from aircraft carriers, and were also land-based flying the F-4F Wildcat, SBD Dauntless and TBM Avenger.

Japanese Army Air Force
Operated out of the South Pacific, SE Asia and the Philippines, includingmainland of New Guinea, and briefly from Rabaul, flying aircraft like the Ki-48 LILY light bomber, the Ki-49 HELEN heavy bomber and fighter aircraft, like the Ki-43 Oscar and Ki-84 FRANK fighters, and the Ki 46 DINAH reconnaissance aircraft. Its main bases in the SWPA were Wewak and Hollandia.

Imperial Japanese Navy
Both carrier based and land based aircraft operated in the South Pacific region. Aircraft types included the infamous A6M Zero (or Zeke) fighter, the G4M Betty bomber, the J1N Irving, and D3A Val dive bomber. Japanese Naval units began the war with the victories of Pearl Harbor and the Philippines behind them, and continued to advance through the area with success with raids on Darwin, Australia and Port Moresby. Apart from carrier operations, major IJN bases in the SWPA included Rabaul, Truk, Tulagi, Ballale, Cape Gloucester, Kavieng, Lae, Babo and Hollandia.