Darwin air, ship and WW2 military history | FerrariChat
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Darwin air, ship and WW2 military history

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by alexm, Jul 8, 2013.

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  1. alexm

    alexm F1 Veteran

    Sep 6, 2004
    5,223
    Coast up from Sydney
    Full Name:
    Alex
    #1 alexm, Jul 8, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I've just come back from Darwin and learnt more in a day about our military history there than ever did in a lifetime of school.

    The first Japanese bombing in Feb 1942 is our "Pearl Harbor" if you like.. half of the Kittyhawks never made it off the ground.. and of the 10 that did 9 got shot down in the first surprise raid.

    While driving around throughout the region, sometimes hundreds of miles from the coast.. there were signs in the bush to historic WW2 landing strips.. still bare strips of dirt carved out in the trees.

    Darwin was the base for Allied raids of up to 14hr missions into Japanese held territory.. and is an active naval base with annual exercises involving US and other forces to this day.
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  2. alexm

    alexm F1 Veteran

    Sep 6, 2004
    5,223
    Coast up from Sydney
    Full Name:
    Alex
    #2 alexm, Jul 8, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  3. alexm

    alexm F1 Veteran

    Sep 6, 2004
    5,223
    Coast up from Sydney
    Full Name:
    Alex
    #3 alexm, Jul 8, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  4. dmaxx3500

    dmaxx3500 Formula 3

    Jul 19, 2008
    1,027
    #4 dmaxx3500, Jul 8, 2013
  5. alexm

    alexm F1 Veteran

    Sep 6, 2004
    5,223
    Coast up from Sydney
    Full Name:
    Alex
    #5 alexm, Jul 9, 2013
    That's cool.. thanks, will put on my list of several stateside places to go for next time!

    btw I had learnt from my Darwin trip the USAF didn't come into being till after WW2 and the planes were attached to the Army etc..
     
  6. ADC78

    ADC78 Rookie

    Jun 16, 2009
    12
    Houston, TX
    #6 ADC78, Jul 9, 2013
    That is correct, my grandfather was with G3 section at Grovesnor Square at the very beginning of the war, and was liberated from Stalag Luft 17b as part of 91st BG 401BS at the end of the war. He was offered dinner at Buckingham Palace (a PR thing) while he was stationed at the embassy, he said he turned it down because he "was to good to eat with those people". He was a funny guy, and he always said the Germans weren't that bad to them, even though everyone knew it wasn't true. The Air Force museum at Wright Patterson is amazing if anything just to see how big the xb70 Valkyrie really is.
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/North_American_XB-70A_Valkyrie_Ser._No_62-0001.jpg
     

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