North-Eastern Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. For most of its existence it controlled units based in central and northern Queensland as well as Papua New Guinea. Its responsibilities included air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its territory. Its flying units took part in the battles of Rabaul, Port Moresby and Milne Bay in 1942, and the landings at Hollandia and Aitape in 1944. In 1954 its responsibilities were subsumed in February 1954 by the RAAF’s new functional commands: Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands. It was disbanded in December 1956 and re-formed as Headquarters RAAF Townsville.
About North-Eastern Area Command in brief
North-Eastern Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. For most of its existence it controlled units based in central and northern Queensland as well as Papua New Guinea. Its responsibilities included air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its territory. Its flying units took part in the battles of Rabaul, Port Moresby and Milne Bay in 1942, and the landings at Hollandia and Aitape in 1944. The area command continued to operate after the war, but its assets and staffing were much reduced. In 1954 its responsibilities were subsumed in February 1954 by the RAAF’s new functional commands: Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands. It was disbanded in December 1956 and re-formed as Headquarters RAAF Townsville. It is one of the few RAAF area commands to have survived the Second World War and the only one to have been fully integrated into the Allied Air Forces. The RAAF has no plans to re-establish the area command in the future. It has been replaced by the North-Western Area Command, which is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and covers the Northern Territory and the Northern Territories. The North-Eastern area command was formed in January 1942 from the eastern part of the former Northern Area Command. Northern Area had been established on 8 May 1941 as a geographically based command-and-control zone, covering units in northern Australia and Papua.
The roles of the area commands were air defence,. protection of adjacent sea lanes, and aerial reconnaissance, and. administration and operations of air bases and units within his boundary. In December 1941, Northern Area was split into North- western Area and North- eastern Area to counter distinct threats to Northern Australia and New Guinea, respectively. In February 1942, the eastern portion of the Northern Area command was established at Townsville, Queensland, to take over the eastern half of what was previously Northern Area. The eastern portion was known as the North Eastern Area Command (NEA) and was based at Townsville. NEA’s AOC was Air Commodore Frank Lukis, formerly in charge of Northern Area, taking responsibility for RAAF operations against the Japanese in New Guinea,. New Britain and surrounding islands. No. 33 Squadron, operating ex-Qantas Short Empire flying boats and several smaller transports, was raised in NEA on 19 February 1942. The squadron suffered heavy losses in the ensuing battle. At one point NEA headquarters gave Squadron Leader John Jackson permission to withdraw but he refused, and he was eventually credited with destroying thirty-five Japanese aircraft in the air and on the ground.
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This page is based on the article North-Eastern Area Command published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
