CoodaShooda (#10557)
We still commemorate 19 February 1942 here in Darwin
CoodaShooda (#10562),
The Spitfires didn't arrive in Darwin until February 1943. Until then, we relied on the USAAF's P-40s for air cover.
...At the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 Wirraways equipped seven RAAF squadrons: Nos 4, 5, 12, 22, 23, 24 and 25 [Wiki]...
Surely one or more of these could have been sent to the defence of Darwin ?
Danny.
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jolihokisticks (#10563),
...Just doing some rushed background remedial reading on this whole event. One source claims the Spitfires never arrived and were kept back for use in India...
IIRC, India did not get any Spitfires either until late 1943. When I arrived there in December, 1942, fresh from a Spitfire OTU in UK, I was dismayed to find that there were none at all there (I was given a Vultee Vengeance to fly instead - (110 Sqn), and never saw the inside of a Spitfire again for seven years !
Danny.