North-Western Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. Its wartime sphere of operations included the Northern Territory, adjacent portions of Queensland and Western Australia, and the Dutch East Indies. The command was formed in January 1942, following the outbreak of the Pacific War, from the western part of Northern Area Command.
About North-Western Area Command (RAAF) in brief
North-Western Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. Its wartime sphere of operations included the Northern Territory, adjacent portions of Queensland and Western Australia, and the Dutch East Indies. The command was formed in January 1942, following the outbreak of the Pacific War, from the western part of Northern Area Command, which had covered all of northern Australia and Papua. Its role became increasingly offensive in nature, as the Allies began to advance in New Guinea and the Netherlands. The area command continued to operate following the end of the war, but its assets and staffing were much reduced. Its responsibilities were subsumed in February 1954 by the RAAF’s new functional commands: Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands. The Darwin area become an Allied air sub-command known as AUSGROUP, under ABDACOM’s air component, ABDAIR. In early February 1942, Air Commodore George Jones, soon to be appointed Chief of the Air Staff, inspected NWA and found the morale and serviceability of its combat units to be lacking. On 19 February 1942, NWA’s complement of aircraft included seventeen Lockheed Hudson light bombers of Nos. 2 and 13 Squadrons based at Darwin and Daly Waters, and ten P-40 Kittyhawk fighters of the United States Army Air Forces that were transitting through Darwin to Java. Just before 10am, Darwin suffered its first air raid by the Japanese, a force of 188 aircraft bombed the harbour and town of Adelaide.
The Kittyhawks were credited with shooting down five RAAF anti-aircraft guns and five gunners, with approximately 250 RAAF personnel deserted in an exodus that became known as the Adelaide River Stakes. On 15 January 1942,. an Allied supreme command for South East Asia and the South West Pacific, American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, was formed with headquarters at Bandung in Java. Five days later, the Australian War Cabinet officially transferred the operational control of Northern Australia between Onslow in Western Australia and the south-east edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria to ABDacOM. On 27 January that the formidable Japanese combined carrier fleet had entered the Flores Sea, Repair and maintenance equipment and staff were moved to Daly Waters. On 28 January, the Darwin area became an Allied sub- command known as ABDA IR. On 29 January 1942, the RAA lost control of the South East Pacific to the Allied Supreme Command, with ABDAir taking control of South East Asian and South West Asian airspace. On 31 January 1942, ABDAIR became responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. On 1 February 1943, the U.S. Air Force took control of Australia’s northern islands, including Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. On 2 March 1944, the Japanese attacked Darwin with fifty-four bombers, mainly directed at the airfield at Stakes, destroying civil and military infrastructure.
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