Fantome (your #8550),
...in 1944 with the war by now far away from the Australian mainland...
Not all that far:
...The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945...
(Wiki).
and:
...Casualties and losses
42,000 total[4]Allied.......... 127,600 (New Guinea only)[5]Jap...
(Wiki).
I would assume most of the Allied casualties would be Australian.
...He then took matters into his own hands . He detailed the two culprits for target towing, in the course of which they were 'accidentally' shot down...
Sorry, Fantome, but I cannot believe that. He would have had to order an Australian gun crew to deliberately shoot down an Australian aircraft with an Australian crew. This was clearly
not a Lawful Command - and even if the gun crew had been willing accomplices (which they must have been for otherwise they would have refused to obey), think of the number who had witnessed the event, and the suspicions which must have been aroused. The Court of Enquiry's findings would make interesting reading (is it possible to turn them up from the Archives ?)
Danny.