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Ordnance Spitfire in the Pacific War
Australia’s highest scoring fighter pilot of WWII, Clive ‘Killer’ Caldwell, helps push his Spitfire CR-C JL394 out of camouflage, Aug. 1943
The Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Indian Air Force and the RAF also used Spitfires against Japanese forces in the Pacific theater. The first Spitfires in the Far East were two photo-reconnaissance (PR IV) aircraft which operated from airfields in India from October 1942.
Clive Caldwell
Japanese raids on Northern Australia hastened the formation in late 1942 of No. 1 Wing RAAF comprising No. 54 RAF Squadron No. 452 Squadron RAAF, and No. 457 Squadron RAAF under the command of Clive Caldwell. The wing arrived at Darwin in February 1943, and saw constant action until September. The Mk Vc versions received by the RAAF proved unreliable and, initially at least, had a relatively high loss rate. This was due to several factors, including pilot inexperience, engine over-speed due to the loss of oil from the propeller speed reduction unit (a problem resolved by the use of a heavier grade of oil), and the practice of draining glycol coolant before shipment, resulting in internal corrosion of the Merlin engines.
Another factor in the initial high attrition rate was the relatively short endurance of the Spitfire, most of the sorties were, flown over the wide expanse of ocean between Australia, New Guinea and Timor. Even when fitted with drop tanks the Spitfires could not afford to fly too far from base without the danger of running out of fuel over water. As a result, when an incoming raid was detected, the Spitfires were forced to climb as fast as possible in an attempt to get into a favorable position.
RCAF Spitfire 411 Squadron
In the prevailing hot, humid climate this meant that the Merlin engines were often overheating even before combat was joined. The Spitfires were fitted with the Vokes tropical filters which reduced performance: in an attempt to increase performance the filters on several Spitfires were removed and replaced by the standard non-tropicalized air intake and lower engine cowlings which had been manufactured by the base workshops. The experiment proved to be a failure and the Spitfires were quickly refitted with the tropical filters.
Many of the Australian and British airmen who flew in 1 Wing were experienced combat veterans, some of whom who had flown P-40s with the Desert Air Force in North Africa, while others had flown Spitfires over Europe. They were used to being able to outmaneuver opposing fighters and were shocked to discover that the Zeros they were now flying against were able to outmaneuver the Spitfire.
Raid on Darwin (May 2, 1943)
Strength
Japanese Australians and British
27 Zeros 33 spitfires
25 Bombers
Aircraft lost
6-10 14
That was just one raid.. For almost two years beginning Feb 1942 the airspace over North West Australia was routinely penetrated by Japanese raids, about 70 in total.
Spitfires in Darwin
By mid-1943 the heavy losses imposed on the Japanese Navy in the Solomon Islands campaign and in New Guinea meant that the JNAF could not keep up its attacks on northern Australia. Other units equipped with the Spitfires in the SW Pacific Area included No. 79 Squadron, No. 85 Squadron RAAF, No. 458 Squadron RAF and No. 459 Squadron RAF.
In the SE Asia, the first Spitfire Vcs reached three squadrons on the India-Burma front in November 1943. Spitfire pilots met Japanese for the first time on Boxing Day, 1943. A pair of Spitfires piloted by Flying Officer Geoffrey William Andrews and Flight Sergeant Harry B. Chatfield attacked a formation of Japanese planes over Chittagong. Andrews destroyed a fighter and a bomber, damaging a second, while Chatfield shot down another two. On the last day of 1943, Royal Australian Air Force Spitfires destroyed eleven Japanese bombers and three fighters. Churchill complimented the Australian Squadron for their “brilliant exploit”.
Pilots trudge thru the mud at the advanced airbase in Burma after sorties with the Japanese.
Spitfires ensured that the Allies gained and held air superiority during the battles of Kohima and Imphal from early to mid 1944, in which the Japanese attempt to destroy the British 14th Army and invade India was also defeated. By 1945, when the Allies launched offensives into Burma, the Japanese were unable to challenge the Allies’ air supremacy. Spitfires took part in the last major pitched battle of the war involving the Western allies – No. 607 Squadron and No. 273 Squadron flying the MKVIII armed with 500 pound bombs helped destroy a Japan breakout attempt at Sittang Bend in July and early August 1945.
This post was the suggestion of Dan Antion.
Resources: Pacific Spitfires.com; History Exchange; Wiki; Aviation Profiles.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
William Atterson – Clark Range, TN; US Army, Japanese Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
Howard E. Cook Jr, – W. Palm Beach, FL; US Navy, pilot
Courtesy of John @ https://lvphotoblog.com/
Frank ‘Slick’ Dercher – Kansas City, KS; US Navy, WWII, USS California
Patricia Felton – Queensland, NZ; RNZ Navy # 46253, WREN, WWII
James Garrison – Johnston, IA; US Army, WWII, PTO, 24th Division, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Clyde Hymel – Garyville, LA; USMC, WWII, PO, Silver Star
Millard “Smoke” Lea – Union City, IN; US Army, Korea, 101st Airborne Division
Robert Malone – Alexandria, VA; US Army, WWII
Paul Niloff – Sherbrooke, CAN, RC Army, WWII, Medical Corps
Ralph Peavy – Liberty, KY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Chuck Yeager – Myra, WV; US Army Air Corps, WWII, mechanic / pilot / test pilot / Vietnam, BGeneral (Ret. 34 y.), Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
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Pacific War in art – 1943
TO CONTINUE OUR MINI-GALLERY OF DISTINGUISHED ARTIST’S VIEW OF WWII ……
RAAF Kittyhawk Squadron, Milne Bay, New Guinea, by: William Dargie
5th Air Force & RAAF, Battle of the Bismark Sea
USS Bailey, Battle of Komandorski, by I.R. Lloyd
“Mission Accomplished”, Yamamoto shot down, 18 April 1943, by Roy Grinnell
Japanese postcard, Aleutian Campaign
The Solomons, by: Peter Dennis
IJN Amagiri ramming PT-109
‘Marine Raider’ Bougainville, by: Marc Erickson
Tarawa by: Tom Lovell
Pappy Boyington, F-4U Corsair, by: Craig Tinder
Cape Gloucester, Solomons, 26 Dec. 1943
Resources:
IHRA: for their blog and their books and prints
Jack Fellows website
William Dargie artwork
“WWII: A Tribute in Art and Literature” edited by David Colbert
Nicholas Trudgian
http://www.nicolastrudgian.com/
I.R. Lloyd
Roy Grinnell
https://www.roygrinnellart.com/
Craig Tinder artwork
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Jack D. Baker – New Salisbury, IN; US Navy, WWII, USS Iowa
Gilbert Clarin – Turlock, CA; US Army, 511th Regiment
Randall Edwards (103) – Ruskin, NE; US Navy, WWII, Pto & CBI, USS Canopus, radioman, POW
Paul Ernyei – Burton, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. A/127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Mary Fusselman – Davenport, IA; Civilian, WWII, military cartographer
Winston F. Groom Jr. – Fairhope, AL; US Army, Vietnam, 2nd Lt., / author: “Forest Gump”
Leslie Kessler Jr. – Columbus, TX; US Army, WWII, PTO, Marine Engineman, Co. C/593rd Engineer Boat Regiment
Jason E. Pelletier – Presque Isle, ME; US Army, Iraq & Afghanistan, 2nd. Lt. (22 y.)
Donald Stoulil – Olivia, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-17 pilot, 303rd Bomb Group
Carl L. Ware (101) – Odenville, AL; US Army, WWII, ETO, SSgt., Co. E/159th Combat Engineers
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July 1942 (1)
Kokoda Trail, Papua, New Guinea
2 July – MacArthur decided to secure the Papuan Peninsula and land 3,000 additional Australian troops, but the enemy had moved faster. Operation Providence for New Guinea could not now be rushed. Only a few hundred native militia and one company (500) of the 29th Australian Infantry stood in defense from a powerful enemy.
Kokoda, only airstrip for a hundred miles
4 July – American submarines torpedoes 4 enemy destroyers around the Aleutian Island in Alaska; 3 at Kiska and one at Agatter. Three of the Japanese vessels sank.
7-12 July – Australian troops made a five-day march across the Owen Stanley Mountains in southern Papua, New Guinea. They set up defensive positions along the Kokoda Trail which snaked from coast to coast.
21-29 July – the Japanese 18th Army landed at Buna, New Guinea on the northern coast of Papua in a renewed attempt to move across the Owen Stanley Mts. and take Port Moresby. Under MGen. Tomitaro Horii, 13,000 troops and 1,000 bearers, in his South Seas Force, marched in for a surprise attack. Should this operation be successful, Port Moresby would become the launching site for the bombing and invasion of Queensland. The impossible conditions of this territory would be the site of some of the bloodiest and most desperate fighting of the entire war.
William Owen
Australian commander, Lt.Colonel William Taylor Owen, 39th Battalion, of Leongatha, Victoria, lost his life during this battle in the mountainous, rain-soaked jungles along with many of his men. Owen was taking part in close fighting with the enemy in the most forward position in Seekamp’s sector, on the very lip of the plateau. He was throwing grenades when a bullet struck him and he died on 29 July 1942, aged 37 years. Owen was the first Australian to receive the American Distinguished Service Cross.
Horii’s specially jungle-trained troops by-passed a few Australian positions to take the town. One of the Japanese diaries found, read: “The sun is fierce here. We make our way through the jungle where there are no roads. The jungle is beyond description. Thirst for water, stomach empty.” The north African combat experienced 7th Australian Division were in the process of being shipped to Papua as MacArthur spoke at a press conference, “We’ll defend Australia in New Guinea. We must attack, attack, attack!”
Australian 7th Division, New Guinea
MGen. George C. Kenney arrived to take over the Southwest Pacific Forces Air Command of 245 planes of which only 50 were serviceable. He too would share in the discomfort of the territory where the poor diet of MVs (canned meat and Vegetables) would cause his flyers to lose about 30 lbs. in a single tour of duty. Malaria began to break out. But the men still had a sense of humor and joked about the “New Guinea salute,” the constant act of swatting away the swarms of black flies.
The 80 Australians, now without their commander, and up against 400 of the enemy, were forced to retreat. A local planter recalled the scene: “The thick white mist dimming the moonlight, the mysterious veiling of trees, houses and men, the drip of moisture from the foliage, and at the last, the almost complete silence, as if the rubber groves of Kokoda were sleeping as usual in the depths of the night and the men had not brought the disturbance.”
Click on images to enlarge.
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31 March – RAAF – 94th Birthday
No. 4 Squadron in front of their Boomerang, Nadzab, New Guinea
Cropped Lancaster
Air Marshall Sir Richard Williams, “Father of the RAAF”
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Humor –
Somebody catch that guy and give him a piece of cake!!
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Farewell Salutes –
Ronald Allan – Toowoomba, AUS; RA Air Force # 43610, WWII
Geoffrey Byrne – Victoria, AUS; RAAF, WWII
courtesy of Stockresearch52 [link below]
Bernard Dwyer – Torquay, AUS; RSSF # A15841
Glen Farrow – Cameron Park, AUS; RAAF, 77th Squadron
Harold Johnson – England; British Army, WWII, CBI, The Royal Artillery, bombardier, POW
William “Bud” Merrill III – Delray, FL; US Army, Korea, 2nd Armored Division
Denis Phillips – Toowong, AUS; RAAF, GP Captain (Ret. 25 years)
Rowley Richards – No. Sydney, AUS; RA Army, Medical Officer 2/15 Field Regiment, WWII, CBI, POW
Thomas Richie (100) – Auckland, NZ; RNZ Army # 29441, WWII
Duane Vasicek – Kenai, AK; US Navy, shipfitter, USS Sarsfield (DD 837)
George Wood Jr. – Lake Worth, FL; US Army, 508th Airborne RTC
Link for Stockresearch52
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I’m just checking!
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