WGSA: Wounded Eagle: The Bombing of Darwin and Australia's Air Defence Scandal

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Book Title:

Wounded Eagle: The Bombing of Darwin and Australia's Air Defence Scandal

Author:

Dr Peter Ewer

ISBN:

9781741108255

Category:

History

Format:

Hardback

Summary:

Opening with an account of the Japanese aerial reconnaissance of Sydney Harbour in Feb 42 and finishing with the establishment of air defences around Port Moresby in PNG, this 240pp hardback is much more about lack of military vision and poor, inept (and potentially in some case downright criminal) decisions taken by the Australian Government (with lots of 'helpful' advice from the UK) on the state of the continent's air defences and aircraft industry in the lead-up to and opening stages of the Pacific War. How different things might have been (at least tactically) had the RAAF had the P38s and B17s they had been offered by the USA rather than relying on the obsolescent crumbs from the British aircraft industry's table. Tracing Australia's potential capability back to Sir Richard '****ie' Williams at the end of WWI, Ewer documents a chronicle of strategic, operational and tactical level failure on Australia's part to develop an air force that was fit for purpose, exploring Imperial tensions and the demands of the European theatre which assisted the Japanese successes once war broke out. A fascinating, sobering and angering read which retains some parallels into the modern period and issues of the competing priorities of national defence with industrial capacity and motivation.

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