Wednesday 6 March 2024

Supermarine Spitfire. Oceanian Users. Part Three. Australian users part two.

 

The No.451 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) saw action in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operation (MTO). This unit replaced their Hawker Hurricane fighters for Spitfire Mk.VIII and some Mk.IXs, in Egypt, when it was assigned to the aerial defence of the Nile Delta. In early 1944 it was completely equipped with Spitfires and was operating from the French island of Corsica. From there they performed ground support operations supporting land troops operating in southern France and Italy. In late 1944 it was rebased to the United Kingdom where it received the much better Spitfire Mk.XVI and, from January 1945 until the end of the conflict, it took part in bomber escort missions to destroy German V-2 rocket launching sites located in the Netherlands. 
After the war, in August 1945, they received the Spitfire Mk.XIV and were part of the Allied Occupation Forces in Germany, based in various airfields across north-western Germany. 

Another RAAF unit that employed the Spitfire was the No.457 Squadron. This unit was formed in 1941 in the United Kingdom, at took part through 1941 and 1942 in the Channel Front campaign, however, when Japan entered war, they were sent to the Australian northern mainland to take part in the defence of their homeland. They were active in the aerial Campaign of Darwin and in mid 1944 they were rebased, this time equipped with Mk.VIII to Morotai and Labuan, in the Dutch East Indies where their main objective was to conduct ground attack raids against Japanese camps and shipping. Shortly after the war, they remained at Labuan until October 1945 when they were disbanded.
During the defence of Darwin and the Australian mainland, the Australian Government favoured the Spitfire over other American fighters like the P-40 as the Spitfire had better high-altittude performance and it was considered as the best fighter that Australia could get. In 1942 No.1 Wing RAAF was created with Nos. 452 and 457 squadrons of the RAAF plus some other Royal Air Force's (RAF) squadrons.

No.79 Squadron RAAF also operated the Spitfire. It was formed at RAAF Laverton (Victoria) in April 1943 and they served through New Guinea and the Solomon campaigns providing escort for the American heavy bombers operating in the area. 
In 1944 as part of No.73 Wing they saw action over Admiralty Islands supporting American 1st Cavalry Division. During that campaign they were based in Momote airstrip on Los Negros island. In late November 1944 they were rebased to Darwin to receive the Spitfire Mk.VIII and later, in February 1945 they were rebased to Morotai where it remained for the rest of the war. Their final mission was to drop leaflets over Japanese positions announcing the surrender of Japan and the unit was disbanded in October 1945.
No.85 Squadron was equipped with Spitfire Mk.V in September 1944, replacing their CAC Boomerangs. As this unit was tasked with the aerial protection of western Australia, they did not see too much action and they retained the Mk.V until the end of the war.

Nowadays, there is a RAAF unit that flies the Spitfire (among other aircraft), No.100 Squadron, which RAAF's historic aircraft display squadron.

The last user of the Spitfire in Australia was the Royal Australian Navy which acquired some few machines after the war and employed them as trainers and ground targets, as they were very worn out. 














Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._451_Squadron_RAAF
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._457_Squadron_RAAF
4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._79_Squadron_RAAF
5th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._85_Squadron_RAAF

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