 As a direct report to the USAAF's Lieutenant-General George Kenney, commander of Allied Air Forces in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), Bostock was able to ignore many directives from Jones, his nominal superior in the RAAF.The CAS nevertheless continued to assert his authority over Bostock's supplies of manpower and equipment.In March 1943 Jones proposed that he take over responsibility for air operations in defence of the Australian mainland but General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander SWPA, refused to countenance it.