“Darwin’s Air War 1942-1945”

An Illustrated History Commemorating the Darwin Air Raids

Published 1991 – Author Bob Alford (Reprinted 1997 and 2001)

This is the most authoritative work on Darwins air war, and has been compiled from a wide range of sources worldwide, including Japan. This edition contains many new photos, most of them from private collections. The entire scope of Darwin’s air war is covered, beginning with the pre-war defence build-up.

Covers the defence build up, the first raids, initial defence and actions of the Hudsons and Beaufighters, the 49 Fighter Group USAAF, No 1 Fighter Wing RAAF and the heavy bombers. Includes 7 pilot profiles and lists of the major operational squadrons and the 64 air raids.

Pages 117-118 mentions Flying Officer Bill Hinds crashing at Kangaroo Flats on the 7th September 1943 and being killed. Page 172 mentions the picking up of Hinds at Peron Island after a forced landing on the 6th July 1943.

Peter Dunn, Oz at War writes:-

This is a book which needed to be written. The Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory is to be congratulated on bringing together the history of the first aerial attack on Darwin and the subsequent events until the raids posed no further threat to Australia.

The Japanese raid of 19 December 1942 was the first attack by any power on Australian soil and as the bombs rained down on Darwin, and on the ships in the harbour, no one knew that this was not the beginning of the invasion of Australia. It probably would have been if the Japanese Japanese had not been stopped at Milne Bay, in New Guinea, which is the furthest south they ever got.

The exodus from Darwin as result of the attack was not good for Australia’s morale. Hundreds and hundreds of people fled south and arrived in southern states full of foreboding. But the troops remained in Darwin and American and Australian fighter pilots fought off the invaders when and where they could,  but this did little to diminish the damage done in the initial raid and the 63 raids which followed.

This second edition of the book follows on from the successful 1991 publication of the same name. Published by the Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory, the original drew on information available via the range of sources available at that time.

Over the following years, and particularly after the 50th anniversary of the Darwin bombing activities in 1992, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II events as part of Australia Remembers and the annual 19 February commemorative activities in Darwin and elsewhere, much new information has come to hand, primarily through those who served, the veterans themselves, who have provided their stories, papers and photographs.

Bob Alford

Bob Alford is the Honorary Consultant Historian to The Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory Inc. Bob is a life-member of the Society and the author of “Darwin’s Air Wars”, widely acclaimed as the most authoritative tome on the events leading up to, and beyond, the 19^th February 1942 when Darwin was heavily bombed by the air-forces of Imperial Japan.

Bob originally discovered the wreckage of William Hind’s crashed Spitfire in the 1980’s and was most helpful with the research of this story and to William’s family in their quest to visit the crash site in August of 2019. Due to past pilaging, crash sites are now normally never disclosed by the AHSNT. The fact that William Hind’s aircraft was in the Kangaroo Flats Training Area of the ADF has fortunately afforded it continuing protection and arrangements were made with them to view the site.

Raised at Bacchus Marsh in the state of Victoria, Australia, Bob’s interest in aviation stems from his father’s involvement from the Kingsford Smith era and the Victorian Aero Club of the 1930s. Bob joined the RAAF in 1966 and served 20 years as an Armourer in a variety of squadrons and postings, many of these at overseas bases.

Following ‘retirement’ from the RAAF Bob was commissioned to undertake site surveys and report on military and aircraft crash sites in the Northern Territory. He was later appointed Director of the National Trust and was involved in the 1992 War Service Memorial Year, during which he wrote the first edition of Darwin’s Air War. He also prepared many papers, co-wrote a number of publications and books and provided research and other services to a range of individuals and organisations, both in Australia and overseas.

Bob was later appointed Chair of NT Committee for the Federal Government’s 1995 Australia Remembers commemorative program and in 1999 commenced his own business as a heritage consultant. In 2002 he was appointed as Chair of the NT Heritage Council, an appointment he held for five years.In April 2007 Bob and his Thai wife, Pat, moved to a village on the outskirts of Lampang in Thailand’s north. They later moved back to Darwin and then Hervey Bay.

Bob has retained his interest in the aviation history and heritage of the Northern Territory. He has extensively rewritten Darwin’s Air War (2011) for the Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory and has recently self-published his latest work, Japanese Air Forces over the NWA 1942-1945. He is currently researching The Japanese In Northern Australia 1942-44, Darwin Defenders the 49th Fighter Group over Darwin and Aviation Archaeology.