Australia’s War Diary – Final Installment

August 4 – Borneo. Reports indicate that nine fighters are being maintained in a camouflaged revetment on Lolobata airfield by some 600 Japanese quartered in the area. Twelve Liberators of the 13th Air Force, coordinating with six Spitfires of 79 Squadron, drop 175 general purpose bombs on the target but no sign of the enemy planes are seen. The Spitfires will continue daily strikes in the Halmahera area until operations are terminated by RAAF Command on August 14.

August 6 – Japan. At 0815, B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, flown by Lt/Col Paul Tibbets, drops the six tonne ‘Little Boy’ uranium atomic bomb over Hiroshima, totally destroying some 49,000 buildings, two thirds of the urban area of the city. An estimated 80,000 people are killed outright, a further 10,000 will never be found and 37,000 are seriously injured. Many more will suffer radiation sickness. US President Truman refers to the event as “the greatest thing in history”. Celebes. In one of the last RAAF heavy bomber actions of the war, S/Ldr John Finlayson & crew of 23 Squadron in Liberator A72-103 strafe and set on fire a Type ‘H’ Japanese barge in the Flores Sea.

August 8 – Borneo. Operating at maximum range from Labuan, four Kittyhawks of 82 Squadron led by S/Ldr F Schaaf, attack targets at Kuching. They strafe three Oscars which are preparing to take off at the northern end of the airfield. One has its engine running. All are destroyed. The Kittyhawks are airborne for 4 hours 40 minutes, longer than the accepted duration of these aircraft. They are followed by seven Mosquitoes of No 1 Squadron. There should have been eight but Mosquito A52-520/B has smashed into parked Kittyhawk A29-608 during takeoff. Miraculously, nobody is injured but both aircraft are written off. The Mosquitoes strafe barges on the river at Kuching and barracks north of the Sarawak River. Possibly hit by ground fire, S/Ldr R Browne & F/O R Gregson in A52-510/H crash over the target and are killed.

August 9 – Moscow. The USSR declares war on Japan. Japan. B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, commanded by Major Charles Sweeney, drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This time the plutonium bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, is used. Estimated casualties are 35,000 killed, 5000 missing and 6000 severely injured. Borneo. Anti-aircraft fire at Samarinda cripples the Kittyhawk of P/O Quinn of 80 Squadron. Quinn attempts to crash land but strikes an oilfield pumping plant, causing his aircraft to crash and burst into flames. P/O E Quinn, from Forreston South Australia, is one of the last members of the RAAF to be killed in action.

August 10 – Japan. Tokyo Radio quotes a report stating Japan is willing to surrender. Italy. 3 Squadron’s Mustangs and 450 Squadron’s Kittyhawks and Mustangs are handed over to a Maintenance Unit. Personnel returning home will eventually embark on the troopship Winchester Castle at Taranto on September 7. Three Squadron has emerged as Australia’s premier fighter/army co-op squadron of WW2. In 4 and a half years of continuous service it has flown 25,663 operational flying hours, dropped over 3.9 million kg (8.5 million pounds) of bombs and officially claimed 217.5 enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat (some sources state a total of 192.5, the confusion arising out of the loss of some early records).

August 12 – Borneo. After an unsuccessful recovery attempt on the 10th, contact is established again with an Allied Intelligence Bureau party which is now heading for a river to the north of Lake Melintang. 113 ASR Flight’s F/Lt Chinnick & crew in Catalina A24-109 lands in uncharted waters and picks up the 19 man group and their equipment. Natives warn that the Japanese are only two hours away, coming up river in launches. Heading down river, Chinnick taxies for 19km before he finds a stretch of the river suitable for takeoff. Remarkably, the Catalina’s thin hull is not damaged.

August 14 – Borneo. The 1st TAF issues a message warning of the coming end to the war. Secret: Offensive operations against enemy cities, land communications and other land targets except direct support for Allied ground forces in contact with the enemy will cease until further orders. Reconnaissance and photo missions, anti shipping strikes and fighter attacks against airborne enemy aeroplanes will continue. Forces charged with air defence will be especially alert. The warning to air defences is to be on the alert for Japanese airmen who may make suicide attacks rather than surrender.

August 15 – New Guinea. On this last day of the war, 30 Beauforts from 7, 8 and 100 Squadrons bomb targets around Kiarivu just before news of the Japanese surrender comes through. By mid 1945 the level of operations against the Wewak area by the five RAAF Beaufort squadrons involved has become intensive with many 1000 and 2000lb bombs being used to cause cliff falls and other major spoliation. By utilising the Beaufort’s forward torpedo bay, a rod extension could be fitted to the big American 2000lb demolition bombs, turning them into huge “daisy-cutters” capable of clearing entire hillsides. After August 15, the dropping of surrender leaflets will become their prime duty, aircraft of 10 LASU having surrender messages painted in Japanese characters under their wings, while searches for isolated pockets of Japanese troops continue. In addition, all units will search for POW camps in former enemy territory. Production of the Bristol Beaufort in Australia remains one of the country’s best aeronautical engineering achievements.

August 16 – Borneo. The fighting is over but there is still much to be done. The 1st TAF and other RAAF formations begin to organise the relief and repatriation of POWs held by the Japanese, thousands of whom are starving and in need of medical attention. Venturas of 13 Squadron commence operations from Labuan, flying searches over prescribed sectors to enable land forces to tidy up with a minimum of effort. Leaflets are dropped over many of Borneo’s coastal towns and villages. One aircraft flies over Kuching compound, dropping messages to prisoners and telling them of the Allied victory. Food, clothing and medical supplies will follow.

August 28 – Australia. The first group of Catalinas (drawn from No 3 OTU) leave Rathmines for Singapore via Cairns, Darwin and Labuan, to evacuate Australian POWs. They carry blood plasma, penicillin and quinine for the 5000 Australians there, some 1200 of whom are known to urgently need medical attention. Unfortunately, because the British will only go ashore at Singapore on September 5, the repatriation flights will not be given the go ahead to leave Labuan until September 9. Catalina A24-99 becomes the first RAAF aircraft into Singapore on that day. Passengers on board are an advance party of AIF and RAAF officers who are to witness the surrender there on the 12th. The first group of Australian POWs will eventually arrive back at Sydney’s Rose Bay on September 16. No 2 Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit will largely bear the responsibility for evacuating the prisoners.

August 30 – Australia. Catalina A24-1, one of the aircraft taking part in the first POW recovery operation, crashes while taking off from Darwin. A hole is torn in the hull and it sinks within three minutes. W/Cdr Bolitho & his crew evacuate safely. Borneo. An official announcement arrives at Labuan stating that 81 Wing Units – comprising Nos 76, 77 and 82 Fighter Squadrons, 381 Base Squadron and 481 Maintenance Squadron – are to go to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). No 5 Airfield Construction Squadron is also allotted to BCOF tasked with repairing and making the Japanese airfields serviceable. It is really over at last.

Following the formal surrender of Japan at 0904 on September 2, the surrender of local commanders in various Australian areas of operation took place. The New Guinea campaign did not officially end until September 13, when Lt/Gen Adachi signed surrender documents on board HMS Glory at Rabaul. Rabaul was followed by surrenders at Bougainville, Dutch Borneo, Netherlands East Indies (except Borneo and Lombok), British North Borneo and British Borneo and Natoena Islands, the last surrender taking place on Catalina A24-99 of 113 ASR Flight. For Australians in all services it had been a very long war, involving heavy losses of men and machines. Thousands of Australian airmen had seen service in England, Africa, the Middle East and Burma, not only in RAAF units, they also flew in battle as part of the RAF, either as individuals or in squadrons. In the Pacific, the RAAF experienced for the first time a war on its own doorstep in which its own operational units took part. Total RAAF enlistments during WW2 reached 189,700 men and 27,000 women. RAAF personnel who were killed, or who died as a direct result of the war, were: in Europe 5397; South-West Pacific 3342; Middle East 1135; India/Burma 242; Far East 136; Canada 147; and in other areas 163. Total 10,562. Out of necessity the War Diary has concentrated on the achievements of the fliers themselves but for every aviator there were over dozens more providing support: armourers; fitters; caterers; clerks; drivers; doctors; nurses; engineers; and so on. Without them the system could not have worked and often they faced danger themselves. 74 Australian Aviation August 1995 Men like doctor F/Lt W Deane-Butcher MO attached to 75 Squadron in the perilous days at Port Moresby and who at Milne Bay ran to treat a wounded pilot in the open between attacks by strafing Zeroes; or like maintenance crewmen LAC Reg “Slim” Moore and Cpl K Harris of 3 Squadron who in Italy pushed and taxied three parked Kittyhawks to safety away from another fiercely burning bombed-up aircraft which had been set alight when USAAF Thunderbolts strafed Cutella airfield by mistake; or like W/O Wilf Granger, Fitter 2E, who for his sterling work on Sunderland flying boats throughout the war was awarded a BEM in the 1945 King’s Birthday Honours List – Granger had arrived in England with the original draft of No 10 Squadron airmen in 1939; and thousands more. These stories are for other pages. Incidentally, the ‘real’ 10 Squadron – 466 (Halifax) Squadron had been renamed 10 Squadron on June 20, when 10 (Sunderland) Squadron had ceased operations with RAF Coastal Command – was officially disbanded on October 26 1945. It marked the end of an era. 10 Squadron had been the first Dominion air force unit despatched on active service and it set an enviable record during its six years with RAF Coastal Command. It was the only RAAF squadron to see continuous active service for the entire duration of hostilities. Readers might also be interested to know that next month AA will be launching a new book – Flying Squadrons of the ADF – that will document the history of each flying squadron of not only the RAAF but the entire ADF. Don’t miss it! It has been impossible to “tell it all” in the limited space available, particularly as the war in the air mushroomed into massive proportions and Australians became involved in operations everywhere. The effort has been to cram as much in as would fit and to achieve this the writer gratefully acknowledges the help given by others in such places as RAAF Historical Section, Australian War Memorial, Australian Archives, Imperial War Museum, Public Records Office, etc; the authors of so many reference books and journals; and, by no means the least, the staff producing Australian Aviation magazine. Special thanks is given to the readers who have followed the column over the years, particularly those who took the time to contribute information, much of it previously unpublished. This, and the material used in War Diary, is being properly collated, updated and expanded to use as the basis for a series of books on Australian airmen in WW2 which is currently under preparation by Banner Books. The first will cover in far greater detail than ever before the years 1939-40 and will be titled First Impact.