Chapter Seven

Darwin

We had been a long time coming. It was now late January 1943 and the war with Japan was now over a year old. By the time the promised Spitfire wing had been organised in June 1942 and it had finally arrived in Darwin, seven months had come and gone, but at last we were in situ and ready for anything – so long as something, anything – happened.

The initial excitement in Australia had started way back in February 1942. With the Japanese forces spreading south and west, and having already landed in New Guinea, things were beginning to look decidedly serious for northern Australia. Further to the west lay Timor, which had been an important staging area for reinforcements from Australia to the islands of Java and Sumatra. Sumatra had fallen already and Java must surely be next. Therefore there seemed little use in holding on to Timor, although initially a force of American and Australian troops were sent to reinforce the island, and actually sailed on 15 February 1942, but it was attacked and forced back towards Darwin. On this same day a force of Japanese carriers, cruisers and destroyers had been ordered to head south and launch a strike against Darwin.

The port of Darwin, as well as being this important staging post for Allied forces that might pose a threat to Japanese intentions further north and west, and also the Philippines that was still fighting, was full of ships and there was a large quantity of aircraft on nearby airfields. Darwin had already had Japanese reconnaissance aircraft snooping about and the tension was mounting. The time for the Japanese attack was dawn on the 19th.

That morning there were 47 ships in Darwin harbour, including the transports that had returned from the abortive attempt to reach Timor. They came in all shapes and sizes, and included Australian and American vessels, and there were also some flying boats on the water – military and civil. At RAAF Darwin were a number of Lockheed Hudsons, some American

P40s that had just arrived, plus the personal aircraft of Major-General Patrick J Hurley USAAF, on a visit. There were also some unserviceable Wirraways with others at nearby Batchelor airstrip, while at Daly Waters were eight more Hudsons. On these three airfields were, in addition, a number of civil light aircraft.

Despite the obvious tension, two clues that something was about to happen appear to have been ignored. A signal from a coast-watcher on the northern edge of Melville Island, which is situated just north of Darwin, reported a large force of aircraft, but this was thought by RAAF HQ to refer to some P40 Kittyhawks that had been sent off to escort a B17 that had been going to Timor but had been thwarted by bad weather. Then a call from a catholic mission on Bathurst Island that abutted Melville Island, also reported an unusually large formation of aircraft heading for Darwin from the north-west, but this too was ignored. So, just like at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, nobody had read the signs and those on the ground, and on the water, had no warning that danger was fast approaching.

The similarity with Pearl Harbor does not end there. Four of the six aircraft carriers used for the Hawaiian island attack were deployed in the raid on Darwin. The Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and the Hiryu, having re-equipped in home waters after the Pearl Harbor raid, had headed south towards Australia. By early morning of 19 February they were some 220 miles north-west of Darwin and ready to launch their planes. By 08.45 hours, a total of 188 aircraft, comprising 36 fighters, 71 dive-bombers and 81 high-level bombers, led by the very same leader that went for Pearl, Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, set a course of 148° and headed for Darwin.

The Japanese formation came upon an American PBY (Catalina) flying boat just north-west of Bathurst Island and one of the escorting Zero fighter pilots broke off to attack. Shooting this down in flames, the Japanese pilot headed for Darwin alone and found himself above five patrolling P40s, who were totally unaware of any impending problem. The enemy pilot, despite being totally alone, attacked them, shooting down three into the sea, and wounding the pilot of a fourth, who succeeded in crash-landing back at his base. This was quite an overture to Darwin’s first aerial assault.

Japanese bombers and dive-bombers now headed in, preceded by a number of low-flying Zero fighters that commenced a strafing attack on the ships. Moments later enemy bombers began unloading their ordnance on both town and harbour from 14,000 feet. An oil storage tank was set ablaze, buildings demolished, and ships were hit, sunk and damaged. Dive-bombers now proceeded to make their attack on ships and airfields. Some American P40s endeavoured to get off the ground but were overwhelmed by attacking Zeros, losing pilots and planes. More aircraft were strafed on the ground by the Zeros and left on fire. Three USN PBYs were also sunk at their moorings.

It was all over by 10.40 but Darwin was left in utter confusion. Military personnel and civilians lay about dead and injured. Fires raged, filling the sky with black smoke and dust. Believing this might well presage an invasion, many people evacuated the town. Yet more raiders were to come.

Just before noon more bombers headed in, bombing Darwin airfield again which was devastated. Buildings and hangars were wrecked, plus the last two P40s. Men headed into the surrounding bush and some days later over 250 were still unaccounted for. The Qantas hangar was also badly damaged. The raiders flew away, reporting that as far as they could see, any threat from Darwin in the near future was out of the question. The Japanese were now able to assault and capture Timor without fear of any intervention from northern Australia.

Having achieved their object of destroying or at least neutralising Darwin, the four carriers returned to the Celebes to refuel and re-arm. The Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, headed for their next target, Ceylon. Here again the carriers achieved great success with minimal loss, raiding Colombo on Easter Sunday, 5 April, as well as the Royal Navy base at Trincomalee. They sank two HM cruisers, the Dorsetshire and Cornwall, amongst other losses. A couple of days later, at sea, the British carrier HMS Hermes was attacked and sunk along with the destroyer HMS Vampire and the corvette Hollyhock. In May the Jap carriers again returned to home waters and the following month headed eastwards across the Pacific towards Midway Island. Heading for this target their luck ran out. They were spotted on 4 June by patrol aircraft which preceded devastating attacks by US carrier aircraft. Between 09.00 and 17.00 that day, the Japanese lost four carriers to the American’s one carrier loss (the Yorktown). It has been said that this was the turning point in the war against Japan. As all this was happening, we had been leaving England aboard the Stirling Castle.

While the 19 February attack on Darwin was devastating, others followed that were less so, but this was mainly due to there being far less to bomb and destroy. The town itself had been totally evacuated, and when we arrived there in January 1943, it was all but deserted and in the total control of the military. Further raids came during March 1942, some against the RAAF airfield known as ‘4 mile’. On the 22nd raiders attacked two civil aerodromes, while the 28th and 30th saw further raids on 4 mile. Some American P40s came into the area after this first raid and did claim some success against an attack on Anzac Day, 25 April 1942. Meantime, the Japanese kept a constant eye on anything that happened around Darwin, in order to make sure there was no build-up of men or equipment that might herald any sort of action from the area. Other places were attacked by aircraft too, including the coastal town of Broome, 650 miles to the south-west of Darwin, on 3 March 1942 with many casualties inflicted. Few later raids were as large as these early ones, sometimes just two or three bombers, and several others were made at night. It all helped to keep the Australians guessing – and watching.

A list of further Japanese incursions spread from June to November 1942, so the whole area seemed on almost constant alert. The Australians were well aware that they were extremely vulnerable. Their Prime Minister, John Curtin, had sent a cable to Winston Churchill in February 1942, which stated:

‘Australia’s outer defences are now quickly vanishing, and our vulnerability is completely exposed. With A.I.F. troops we sought to save Malaya and Singapore, falling back on the Netherlands East Indies. All these northern defences are going or gone… We feel a primary obligation to save Australia, not only for itself, but to prepare it as a base for the development of the war against Japan.’

This then had been the pre-curser to Doctor Evatt’s pleas for help and assistance from both the USA and Britain, and for Winston Churchill to promise Spitfires. However, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, the war had moved on considerably since these early raids of 1942, but we were here now and would see what we should see.

Number 1 (Fighter) Wing was now in Darwin. However, we were not all in one place. 452 Squadron were initially based at Batchelor and then at the beginning of February at Strauss, about five miles from us in Darwin. 457 Squadron after some days at Batchelor, moved to Livingstone. We in 54 Squadron had our camp-site at a place called Nightcliff.

The aerodrome was just a short drive away to the southwest, and although it was known as Darwin, because it was four miles from Darwin town, was often referred to as ‘4 mile’. It had earlier been the home of 52 Operational Training Unit. There had been some Kittyhawks here but they had departed by the time the wing arrived.

452 Squadron was commanded by Squadron Leader R E Thorold-Smith DFC, the chap I had wished a happy new year just before we left Sydney. His name was Ray but he was also known as ‘Throttle’. He came from New South Wales and although I am not sure I knew then, he was in fact a month younger than me. Pre-war he had been a medical student but had become a pilot with the RAAF and in England had joined 452 Squadron as a pilot officer. During the summer and autumn of 1941 he had flown many sorties over northern France and had shot down six or seven German fighters and won the DFC. By March 1942 he had risen to squadron commander, just in time to bring 452 to Australia.

It was the first RAAF fighter squadron to be formed in the UK, with mostly Australian personnel, in April 1941. Equipped with the Spitfire Mark II it had moved to RAF Kenley in July and the following month changed its equipment to the Spitfire Mark V. During the rest of the year it was part of the Kenley Wing.

Squadron Leader Pete Brothers DFC had commanded 457 Squadron when it was formed in June 1941, again with Spitfire IIs. However, it did not see much operational work as it was based at RAF Jurby on the Isle of Man until March 1942, when, with Spitfire Vs, it moved to Redhill, in Surrey. It had only just started operations over France when the call came for it to move to Australia. Pete Brothers handed over command to Squadron Leader K E James. Ken James was an Australian, from Victoria, and oddly enough, was just two months older than me. In that brief period that 457 were flying over France he managed to share the destruction of a FW190. He too had risen from pilot officer to commanding officer. Unlike Thorold-Smith, Ken would survive the war.

Bill Gibbs therefore, had ten years on both of his brother COs, while our new wing leader, Clive Caldwell, was about a year older than Bill. Overall command of all air defences at Darwin was in the hands of Air Commodore F M Bladin, who at 44 years of age was older than all of us. We all mixed together pretty well nevertheless. I liked Caldwell and think the feeling was mutual. He did a good job with the wing and considering he didn’t know any of us, he slotted in very well. I suppose his record spoke volumes as far as we were concerned. His predecessor, Walters, had done the initial ground work although he lacked experience. In fact he only learnt to fly the Spitfire after we had arrived in Australia. As a wing leader it was absolutely crazy, but to give Walters his due he never led the wing in action, and after Caldwell took over, his role was mainly one of being around as senior Australian Air Force officer, and when he did fly he would slot himself in as a number two in a section.

At the end of January, Group Captain Walters wrote to HQ North West Area requesting allocation of squadron code letters for our Spitfires, and proposing that 54 have the two letters TA, 452 DL and 457 XB. Confirmation was soon received, but allocating letters DL for our squadron, QY for 452 and XB for 457. 54 had DL pre-war but had changed them to KL in September 1939. In England 452 had used UD, while 457 had had BP. Its new XB was later changed to ZP. Walters had also requested that he and Caldwell be allowed a wing leader’s prerogative of having their personal initials painted on their machines, ALW and CRC.

It was a known fact that our arrival, or to be more precise, the arrival of Spitfires into the area, gave everyone there a great uplift of spirits. We may have liked things to have been a little more permanent by way of buildings and maintenance hangars but we soon adapted to the conditions. Our engineering officer, Cecil Beaton, was a great chap and worked wonders keeping our Spitfires in repair and serviceable. We were lucky in that 54 Squadron was at the old RAAF base. Although it had been badly bombed in those earlier air raids, one hangar had survived and most of our maintenance was carried out in it. The other two squadrons, being out in the bush on airstrips cut out of the jungle, were all under canvas, aircraft and men.

One problem we did encounter with our new Spitfires was one with the constant speed mechanism. The problem was that it would go into fully fine pitch without giving the pilot the slightest warning and could blow up on you, which did happen. After the first couple of episodes, which fortunately the blokes involved got away with, it was mostly corrected, but I am pretty sure we lost a couple of chaps in one of the March air battles due to it. I know Robin Norwood had it happen to him once.

Despite having lost all our non-British pilots back in England, the squadron make-up of pilots was still a very mixed variety of men from the UK. I have already mentioned Gibbs and Norwood, from Sussex, and some of the others were as follows:

Flying Officer J A Tuckson, who came from Surrey

Flying Officer J D Lenagen, from Trinidad

Pilot Officer G B Farries, a Lancashire lad

Pilot Officer A K Brook, from Kent

Pilot Officer A McIntyre, from Sussex

Pilot Officer I Taylor, from Glasgow

Pilot Officer G Wall

Pilot Officer H Leonard, from Wembley, Middlesex

Flight Sergeant F L Varney, from Crawley, Sussex

Flight Sergeant B Mahoney, from Kent

Flight Sergeant Millar

Sergeant J C Wellsman, from Twickenham, Middlesex

Sergeant D M Wheeler, a Hertfordshire lad from St Albans

Sergeant W Eldred

Sergeant G Horkin, from Yorkshire

Sergeant D Monger

Sergeant P F McCarthy, from Gravesend, Kent

Sergeant A E Cooper, from Worcestershire

St Studley

Some had interesting backgrounds. For instance, Tuckson’s father was a pilot, guiding ships through the Suez Canal, while Wheeler’s father was a vicar, which led us to refer to him as ‘The Bish’. Dennis Monger, after the war, became an outside broadcast man for the BBC and covered all the Farnborough air shows along with Raymond Baxter. Baxter did all the commentating while Dennis was the producer. He was quite a character and I well remember his love of whisky, especially when he would come into the Shell enclosure at Farnborough to drink our booze. When he retired he went on a cruise but died on it with a glass of whisky in his hand. I am sure he would have thought of no better way to go.

In addition to Ernie Weatherhead, our bluff Yorkshireman, and R G ‘Cecil’ Beaton, our medical officer was Flight Lieutenant J D Jarman, who hailed from Welsh Wales, while our intelligence officer was Pilot Officer C R ‘Jimmy’ Councer, a Kentish man. The padre was Flight Lieutenant Donald Begbie.

By late January, early February we had got ourselves organised as best we could. We lived in the bush in our tents, while building our huts. If we had been in Burma they would have been called bashas. We were now flying practise formation sorties and trying to be ready for any action that might present itself.

Then on the 5th, we suffered our first loss. In the afternoon the squadron was flying a formation but when coming back to land, two Spitfires collided on the runway. Sergeant Peter McCarthy, aged 20, was killed. The other pilot was not hurt. However, the action we had been waiting so long for, came the next day, the 6th.

By this time I had my own Spitfire, BR539, that was coded DL-X, and it was a machine that I would have for practically my whole time in Darwin. However, it was having a major service on the 6th, so I flew BS181, DL-Y, a machine normally flown by John Lenagen. He had a girlfriend down in Sydney named Yvonne, so the ‘Y’ was a nice aircraft letter to have, and he also had the girl’s name painted on the engine cowling.

We were often told that Australian coast-watchers were constantly on the look-out for hostile aircraft and if seen they would radio to RAAF HQ and give us the warning. We did however, have radar. The Australians had established a reasonable radar site on the north-west coast which seemed to work pretty efficiently and we did get quite good notice of stuff coming in. Once we got this co-operation down to a fine art we generally got height before the Japanese reached the Australian coast, but it didn’t always work.