67 years since bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in WW2

iceman (Mike) · #1 19-02-2009, 09:36 AM

As the subject says, it's 67 years today since the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in WW2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing...(February_1942)

Not a lot of people know the extent of the bombing - the Japanese dropped more bombs on Darwin than they did on Pearl Harbour!

I read the book "Australia Under Attack" just recently - a great read and a real eye opener. The government at the time covered up the massive scale of the bombing including how many people were killed.
243 people killed and 400+ wounded.

The movie "Australia" portrayed the bombing of Darwin just recently - somewhat inaccurate and styled up for Hollywood, but at least more people would've learnt a bit about it.

More reading:
http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/bfa/attack.html

WhiteStarLine (Bill) · #2 19-02-2009, 12:13 PM

Yes, Mike that is a part of our history that is fading from memory.

My mother is still alive and she lived in Townsville during those years. Cairns, Townsville and Mossman had Japanese air raids as well as Broome and Katherine, but not at the same scale as Darwin. She recently gave me a poster she had as a child: "All the ships of the British navy" where she had pencilled crosses over all those that sank, until the British stopped releasing their names. My father recalls hearing the guns firing at the midget submarines in Sydney Harbour and one day watching the artillery engage a submarine that had surfaced out from the Heads. He even saw a few shells drop short into Bondi.

A few years ago I met one of the first detachment to be sent to New Guinea onto Kokoda. His rifle had a white stripe painted down the side, as it was one of a batch of unserviceable weapons intended for destruction but reissued to a battalion that was not expected to survive anyway.

Slightly digressing, I have my grandfather's WW1 diary, photo album and camera. The photo of a football field sized crater, presumably from an underground mine detonation, still makes a chilling impression.

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #3 19-02-2009, 02:09 PM

Lots of old Airstrips up that'a way. Batchelor, Fenton, Strauss, Coomalie creek, Daly Waters, Gorrie...lots...most on the Stuart Hwy.

Adelaide River war cemetery is worth a visit, very sombre.

Lots of Tunnels under Darwin as well.

Edit:

Forgot one I used to see often...Manbulloo, just outside Katherine.

gary · #4 19-02-2009, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wasyoungonce

Lots of old Airstrips up that'a way. Batchelor, Fenton, Strauss, Coomalie creek, Daly Waters, Gorrie...lots...most on the Stuart Hwy.

Adelaide River war cemetery is worth a visit, very sombre.

Lots of Tunnels under Darwin as well.

Edit:

Forgot one I used to see often...Manbulloo, just outside Katherine.

Last time I looked, some still with large piles of countless discarded and broken
Coca Cola bottles beneath the trees near the runways, testimony to the
long waits in the heat for the RAAF and USAF bomber and fighter crews.

JD2439975 (Justin) · #5 19-02-2009, 03:35 PM

Yesterday a thinly disguised Japanese "scientific" whaling vessel docked in darwin harbour...they're having a go, right? they've got to be taking the mickey.

Only after moving to Darwin a few years back did I hear of it's bombing, yet Pearl Harbour I learned of as a child...sad we view the history of other nations as more important than our own.

Same battle group that bombed Pearl Harbour as well, or so I'm led to believe.

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #6 19-02-2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gary

Last time I looked, some still with large piles of countless discarded and broken
Coca Cola bottles beneath the trees near the runways,

Damn...collectors items they are!

koputai (Jason) · #7 19-02-2009, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Yesterday a thinly disguised Japanese "scientific" whaling vessel
docked in darwin harbour...they're having a go, right? they've got to be
taking the mickey.

And the NT Govt/Port Authority made them move this morning.
Funny, the old guys who put their lives on the line, saw the horrors,
received permanent injuries etc can forgive, but rednecks today can't.

Cheers,
Jason.

JD2439975 (Justin) · #8 19-02-2009, 05:06 PM

Rednecks eh...

I think it's more about the whaling than the war.

EDIT: Just watching the news, seems the Japanese captain offered to leave harbour as a mark of respect but the port authority said no, stay.
So it seems us rednecks aren't as bad as you mexicans make out...and before you correct me and say mexicans are Victorians, from my latitude YOU'RE ALL MEXICANS!!

Jen · #9 19-02-2009, 08:53 PM

very sad but i wasnt even thought of then

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #10 19-02-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD2439975

Rednecks eh...

...and before you correct me and say mexicans are Victorians, from my latitude YOU'RE ALL MEXICANS!!

Tis true...but in space there is no right way up so I suggest the traditional representation of the Earth Globe is..."upside down' this it follows that downunder is really.."upper" making you lot are the the Mexicians!

Steveo · #11 19-02-2009, 09:41 PM

Greetings.
Bumped into allot of people over the years and one chap stuck in my mind.
He was an RAAF aircraft engineer in Darwin and I guess it was about 67 years ago.
He said they would come in so high that by the time Boomerangs were sent, they had turned and had headed back home without a chance of catching them.
On one occasion they did get a firing solution on a bomber but the gun failed. He said it was most frustrating and went on to tell a story of why the gun failed and why the Boomerang machine guns fired off when it landed.
Turned out they were supplied with the wrong grease for the guns and it had frozen solid at altitude preventing discharge, The jolt of landing would released what was frozen and it fired off a round.

(rather odd first post in an astronomy forum but its not often I get the chance to convey what I was told)

JD2439975 (Justin) · #12 19-02-2009, 09:42 PM

A mexican redneck...that's a lot to live up to...or is that down to in downupper land?

Contact me regarding vintage coke bottles, also large collection of vintage VB cans.

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #13 19-02-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD2439975

... also large collection of vintage VB cans.

Plenty of empty green cans litter those roads on the LHS for about 10Klms out of towns!

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #14 19-02-2009, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steveo

He said they would come in so high that by the time Boomerangs were sent, they had turned and had headed back home without a chance of catching them.

Hi Steveo

Unfortunately we sent our aircrew up in these Acft to battle Japanese Zero Acft.

They were no match for the Zero. The Aircrew knew this but still went up! Desperate times!

But they were Ok for ground support.

casstony · #15 20-02-2009, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteStarLine

Yes, Mike that is a part of our history that is fading from memory.

"Fading from memory" has me somewhat concerned with regard to current economic events. It takes a few generations to forget enough that we repeat the same mistakes. Debt accumulation leads to recession, political mismanagement turns recession into depression, which then leads to extreme social hardship and war. Too many variables to make a prediction, and the storm is a long way off yet, but a breeze is definitely stirring.

acropolite (Phil) · #16 20-02-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Only after moving to Darwin a few years back did I hear of it's bombing, yet Pearl Harbour I learned of as a child...sad we view the history of other nations as more important than our own.

Same battle group that bombed Pearl Harbour as well, or so I'm led to believe.

I didn't realise the extent of the bombing until I visited the war museum in Darwin, more bombs were dropped on Darwin during the raids than on Pearl Harbour.