Page 40 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

40
ABOVE: A massive industrial mobilisation followed the establishment of the government-owned Department of Aircraft Production. Its first product was building the Bristol Beaufort light bomber under licence for the RAAF.
RIGHT: 460 Squadron RAAF’s famous Lancaster ‘S for Sugar’ being bombed up for yet another mission. The bomber is now preserved at the RAF Museum at Hendon.
raways were manufactured locally and other aircraft in- cluding some 1,000 Avro Ansons and nearly 400 Airspeed Oxfords were imported.
Australian airmen were involved in every theatre of opera- tions in the northern hemisphere whether as part of the ‘Aus- tralian’ squadrons or regular RAF units. Bomber Command in particular received a huge contribution – some 20,000 men – but at a high price with 3,486 losing their lives.
Japan’s strike on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and its subsequent rapid advance through the Philippines, Ma- laya, Singapore, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies made Australia suddenly very vulnerable.
The RAAF’s lack of fighters was now a critical factor: this point was rammed home on 19 February 1942 when Darwin suffered the first of 64 air raids it would endure be- tween then and the end of 1943. Other northern Australian towns and cities would also be bombed by the Japanese, among them Townsville, Broome and Katherine.
Fighters for the RAAF became the priority and the Aus- tralian-built CAC Boomerang was hurriedly designed and flown as insurance against more capable aircraft failing to arrive from overseas.
As it happened, fighters did arrive in the shape of Curtiss Kittyhawks initially and then Supermarine Spitfires. Of- fensive aircraft were also in short supply for the RAAF’s Pacific activities and some imaginative planning and a huge industrial effort which resulted in the establish- ment of the Department of Aircraft Production saw Bristol
Beaufort light bombers coming off production lines in Mel- bourne and Sydney from late 1941. These were followed by Beaufighters in 1944.
Aircraft production during World War II was an impor- tant part of the overall effort in that it saved overseas re- sources as well as giving the RAAF some independence as to its choice of equipment. Australian factories produced more than 3,600 aircraft between 1939 and 1945 including trainers, fighters and strike aircraft.
Initially, Australia’s fight with Japan was a defensive one – particularly in the heroic defence of Port Moresby and other parts of the New Guinea area – but as the allies be- gan to gain the ascendency from 1943, defence turned to attack as the Japanese were turned around and gradually forced back.
In combination with American, British, New Zealand, Australian and other allied ground, sea and air forces, the RAAF played a significant role in all of this.
The RAAF enlisted 189,700 men and 27,000 women dur- ing WWII. Of these, 10,562 lost their lives (half of them in the European theatre) and 3,192 were injured.
continued p44
ROBERT WISEMAN COLLECTION
ROBERT WISEMAN COLLECTION