Australian Spitfires

[Nicholas]

Hi Graham

Do you have Jim Grant's 'Spitfires Over Darwin 1943'? If not, I can highly recommend it.

It is a very balanced Australian perspective, from one who was actually there, and corrects much of the garbage about the RAAF Spitfire debut found on internet forums and websites.

Part of the forward by Clive Caldwell says it all:

"Any mention of Spitfires at Darwin usually brings the sort of stupid response 'Oh yes, didn't they get the hell beaten out of them by the Japs' or 'they all fell into the sea out of petrol or something'.

Grant, a groundcrewman, explains in detail the several technical issues affecting the Spitfires and analyses the raids on a case by case basis. As in most air warfare the holistic nature of multiple factors belies any single factor being used as a "smoking gun" by armchair warriors. Having said that I have no doubt that being a Dinah crewman over Northern Australia was a very dangerous occupation when the RAAF Spitfires began operations in theatre.