Today is 70th Anniversary of bombing of Darwin

[Invader26]

More bombs dropped on Darwin than at Pearl Harbor by the same Japanese carrier task for [three carriers] that did over Pearl...

Today is the 70th anniversary of our day of infamy. A couple of USAAC P-40's tried to take of the Japanese. All lost.

ttp://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-nat ... 1tgpi.html

The story:
http://www.ozatwar.com/darwin02.htm

[grant_mcdonald]

Actually regarding the Usaaf P40's that is not quite right. According to "Darwins air war" and "Australias pearl harbour" by Douglas Lockwood there were 10 Usaaf P-40's in Darwin that morning, purely by chance. They had left Darwin for Timor and Java at 9.15 that morning but had turned back due to bad weather, arriving back over Darwin just before the attack began. Major Pell leading 33 squadron split the squadron with 5 A/c remaning on patrol while 5 landed to refuel. The first the 5 airbourne knew about the attack was when one of their aircraft was shot down. Only the flight commander Oestreicher survived the attack unscathed claiming 2 D3A Vals and landing after the attack finished. The rest of the flight were either shot down or force landed with 2 killed.
Major Pell as Zero's began straffing the airfield attempted to lead the 5 A/c on the ground into the air but the Zero's pounced before they could get fully airbourne, Pell was shot down before he could get his wheels up, bailed out at 200 ft, somehow survived that, but was straffed before he could find cover, the rest suffered similar fates with a further 2 killed and the rest shot down.
Its a fascinating story of sheer raw courage and great big brass ones, agaist overwhelming odds and ld recommend that everyone read up a little on the Darwin attacks on this the 70th aniversary of the first attack.

[RMAllnutt]

Wow... I had no idea that the attack was heavier than the one at Pearl, nor that the Army Air Corps had any aircraft in the air that day. Oddly enough, one of my cousins lives in Darwin now. I wonder whether they celebrate the day as keenly as December 7th is on Hawaii. I will have to ask her.

Cheers,
Richard

[Scott Rose]

This is what I love about this place. I learn something new every time I log in.

[Hemiman]

Yes, it is remembered by our mates "down under". Pics from my friend Gus Breymann



27th BG A-24..proported to be "BIG JIM" Davies bird

[Dan K]

Wow... I had no idea that the attack was heavier than the one at Pearl...

Was it "heavier"?

Were more bombs dropped on Darwin? Probably.

But wasn't Pearl attacked by over 100 more aircraft than Darwin?

And how much damage and death was caused by torpedo at Darwin?


Heavier... I'm going to have to think on that one a bit.

[ALOHADAVE]

The most interesting fact that stands out to me is that I believe Darwin was repeatedly attacked during the war, I believe 99 times.

[grant_mcdonald]

The Darwin attack comprised 188 carrier aircraft lauched from the carriers Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi and Kaga. The raid was planned by Capt Minoru Genda and led by Cdr Mitsuo Fuchida. The aircraft used in the inital strike were 36 A6M2 Zekes, 71 D3A1 Vals and 81 B5N1 Kates. The raid commenced on Darwin at approx 10am. This was followed by a land based strike made up of 27 G4M1 Bettys and 27 G3M1 Nells who reached darwin at approx midday, they dropped 200 odd bombs mainly on the airbase.
From my information(largely taken from Darwins Air war by Bob Alford 2011 edition) there were more aircraft and more bombs dropped (some two and a half times the number of bombs) on Darwin, but the tonnage was less than Pearl (approx 83%). Torpedos were not used at Darwin and l guess that is what makes the difference in the tonnage. "The Vals and Kates dropped 82,550 kg of bombs during the first raid whilst the Nelss and Bettys added a further 32,050 kg in the noon raid"
47 ships in the harbour that morning, 23 sunk. Officially 252 killed and 350 wounded, though it has always been thought the casualties were higher.
Darwin was bombed a further 66 times with many other strikes at town's, base's, mission's, and station's along the Australian north coast including Townsville, Wyndam, Katherine and Broome.

Cdr Fuchida described the attack "if ever a sledgehammer was used to crack an egg it was then".

[Dan K]

[quote="grant_mcdonald"]The Darwin attack comprised 188 carrier aircraft lauched from the carriers Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi and Kaga. The raid was planned by Capt Minoru Genda and led by Cdr Mitsuo Fuchida. The aircraft used in the inital strike were 36 A6M2 Zekes, 71 D3A1 Vals and 81 B5N1 Kates. The raid commenced on Darwin at approx 10am. This was followed by a land based strike made up of 27 G4M1 Bettys and 27 G3M1 Nells who reached darwin at approx midday, they dropped 200 odd bombs mainly on the airbase.
From my information(largely taken from Darwins Air war by Bob Alford 2011 edition) there were more aircraft and more bombs dropped (some two and a half times the number of bombs) on Darwin, but the tonnage was less than Pearl (approx 83%). Torpedos were not used at Darwin and l guess that is what makes the difference in the tonnage. "The Vals and Kates dropped 82,550 kg of bombs during the first raid whilst the Nelss and Bettys added a further 32,050 kg in the noon raid"
[quote]



Thanks, Grant. Your numbers for aircraft match what I've read as well: 242 Zeros, Kates, Vals, Nells, and Bettys over Darwin on Feb. 19.

Which is why I'm confused about the "more aircraft on Darwin" comment (among many other things in life ).

Mitsuo Fuchida wrote that a total of 353 Zeros, Kates, and Vals participated in the attack on Pearl on December 7.

Perhaps I'm just reading the wrong sources.

[grant_mcdonald]

Dan you are correct on the numbers. I hadnt realized the Japanese had used that many aircraft on the pearl attack. I suspect l pulled my numbers from the first wave and not the total force. Apologies to all.

[Dan K]

No apologies necessary...numbers and I don't get along all that well on most days.

The opening months of '42 were truly a shambles in so many ways. Poor Darwin received more than her fair share of negative attention.

[CDF]

Navy Type 0 Zero-sen (A6M2 'Zeke') BII-124 Recovered to Darwin 1942 This Zero was from the carrier Hiryu and shot down during the Darwin Raid on 19th February 1942. The aft fuselage and wing were recovered from the crash site on Melville Island to Darwin for examination by Technical Air Intelligence.

found it here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flying_boa ... 972565064/