Spitfires Over Australia

The Australian Spitfire Story

By Peter Malone

Its unmistakable lines created the most distinctive and recognizable aircraft silhouette of WWII. However, on August 25, 1942 its presence was so secret; it flew under the code name Capstan.

The Spitfire has celebrates over 60 years since the first flight of the Spitfire in Australia.

At R.A.A.F. Laverton Squadron Leader Ken James reached forward and pushed the starter and booster coil buttons. As the prop started to turn he vigorously worked the priming pump. One…. two…. three…. four blades, the engine coughed and then with a belch of exhaust smoke burst roughly into life. Soon the Merlin settled down into its familiar rough idle and staccato crackle from the exhausts. Ken released the buttons and stowed the primer pump as the engine warmed up. All the vital signs looked good – oil pressure and temperature in the green, coolant temperature well within limits, brake pressure up to 120 psi – time for the power and magneto checks.

As he pulled into the climb, the thought passed through Ken James’ mind that it was three months since he had last had the joy of flying a Spitfire. That had been half way around the world in the United Kingdom and he had been flying operations against another enemy. Now he was back in Australia to help save his homeland from the Japanese.

Two Australian Spitfire squadrons had been flying in Great Britain since the middle of 1941. Nos 452 and 457 Squadrons had been formed as Commonwealth squadrons operating within the RAF. Both had acquitted themselves extremely well in offensive fighter sweeps over France, No. 452 at one time being the top scoring squadron in Fighter Command. The pilots had flown against the Luftwaffe’s best pilots flying the latest Messerschmitt Bf-109s and the new Focke Wulfe Fw-190.

However, the war at home had been going badly for Australia. Following its surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, the Japanese military machine had swept down through Asia and the Pacific. Singapore fell and thousands of Australian troops were captured.

The RAAF’s fighter and bomber squadrons on the island were decimated. Other RAAF units in the South West Pacific that came up against the Japanese also suffered severe losses. The war reached Australia on 19 February 1942 when Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft twice raided Darwin. To say that the defenders were caught unprepared would be an understatement. Panic ensued. To make matters worse, the Japanese landed in the North of New Guinea.

The RAAF found itself unable to protect the country. It had no fighter aircraft at home, the general-purpose Wirraway being pressed into the role. The Australian Government appealed to its allies for fighters. The Americans, who were moving men and equipment South to counter the Japanese advance, were the first to provide assistance. They had large numbers of P-40E and P-40E-1 Kittyhawks being landed in Australia but had insufficient pilots to man them. Enough aircraft were made available for the RAAF to form three Kittyhawk squadrons, Nos 75, 76 and 77. No. 75 was the first into action, taking its aircraft to New Guinea in March for a gallant defense of Port Moresby. However, the defense of Darwin still depended on the P-40Es of the USAAC’s 49thFighter Group, assisted after July by the Kittyhawks of 77 Sqn RAAF.

The Squadrons’ personnel embarked on the Stirling Castle at Liverpool and the convoy sailed on 20 June. Six of their Spitfires were carried on the StirlingCastle and the remainder on the Nigerstown. On 2 July the convoy put into Sierra Leone on the West coast of Africa and the Nigerstown’s aircraft were diverted to Takoradi in Ghana. They would be ferried East to Khartoum and then North to the Western Desert where they were urgently required. The remainder of the convoy, with only six Spitfires for three squadrons, sailed on to Australia, arriving in Melbourne, Victoria on 13 August.

The squadron personnel were all given three weeks leave, apart from a small group of 54 Sqn ground crew who would remain at RAAF Laverton and assemble the six remaining Spitfires. All were warned that they were not to talk about Spitfires. The aircraft were given the code name Capstan, (a popular cigarette of the time), and their engines were to be known as Marvels!

The 54 Sqn personnel set about their task and uncrated, assembled and checked out the six aircraft at 1 Aircraft Depot, RAAF Laverton. The aircraft arrived in three crates.

The fuselage and the removed wings were in one, the tail unit in another and the engine in the third. Various fairings and fittings were distributed amongst the crates. Following much hard work, and application of not a little ingenuity, the ground crew had the first ‘Capstan’ ready for flight in late August. As related above Squadron Leader Ken James made the first Spitfire flight in Australia just before midday on the 25thAugust. He demonstrated the aircraft to an audience of assembled VIPs and film-camera men. After assembly the six aircraft were ferried up to RAAF Richmond, near Sydney, NSW.

A new wing, No. 1 Fighter Wing, was formed to manage the operations of the three squadrons. Group Captain A.L. ‘Wally’ Walters AFC, a highly respected permanent RAAF officer was appointed to command the RAAF’s first fighter wing. His Wing Leader was 21.5 victory ace Wing Commander Clive R Caldwell, a much-decorated veteran of the fighting in the Western Desert. No. 452 Squadron was commanded by Squadron Leader Ray ‘Throttle’ Thorold-Smith, No. 457 by Squadron Leader Ken ‘Skeeter’ James and 54 by Squadron Leader Eric ‘George’ Gibbs.

Although, nominally, the three squadrons were manned by experienced combat veterans this was not entirely true. No. 54 Squadron had mainly new personnel and its CO had little fighter experience, having recently been posted in from a general reconnaissance squadron. Both flight commanders, Bob Foster and Robin Norwood, were Battle of Britain veterans, however. No. 452 Squadron had seen intensive fighting between August 1941 and March 1942 and its CO, Squadron Leader Thorold-Smith, was credited with 8 victories. Several of 452 Squadron’s more experienced pilots, including then CO, ‘Bluey’ Truscott, had been posted back to Australia in early 1942 and now formed the nucleus of No.76 Kittyhawk squadron. Most of the replacement pilots had seen little or no combat. The balance was partly redressed with the posting in of Malta veterans, Tim Goldsmith and John Bisley, who would later become Flight Commanders.

The six Spitfires were ferried up to RAAF base Richmond where the wing had been formed. They were allocated two to each squadron, each of which also received two Wirraways and a Ryan ST-M trainer. This lack of aircraft was a major hindrance to training but the wing made the best of what it had. On 9 October, BR471, flown by Sergeant Michael Clifford of 452 Squadron crashed into the sea. This was the first Spitfire fatality in Australia, but the loss was also the pointer to a problem, which would cause the loss of more aircraft in the future.

The de Havilland constant-speed airscrew on the Spitfire VC suffered from oil leaks and had a propensity to overspeed, causing engine failure. This problem was never fully rectified and continued to plague the aircraft throughout its Australian service. Another Spitfire, (BR568), was damaged in a landing accident on the 27th, further reducing the aircraft available for training. The wing was desperately needed in the North, but until replacements for the aircraft repossessed by the RAF arrived, they lacked the feathers to fly.

The situation improved in October when three more ships arrived in Melbourne carrying a total of 64 Spitfires. These were quickly assembled at No. 1 Aircraft Depot, Laverton, and most were taken on the strength of No.1 Wing during November. The typical time from an aircraft arriving at No.1 AD, to its being delivered to No.1 Wing, was about three weeks, although some were delivered in about half this time. This was a minor miracle as it meant that the aircraft depot was assembling and checking out approximately two Spitfires a day. From this time, Spitfires arrived in Australia in a steady stream and it became possible to equip an Operational Training Unit and consider the establishment of yet another Spitfire Squadron. The RAAF would face no more problems with shortages of Spitfires.

457 SQN Personnel

The six Spitfires were ferried up to RAAF base Richmond where the wing had been formed. They were allocated two to each squadron, each of which also received two Wirraways and a Ryan ST-M trainer. This lack of aircraft was a major hindrance to training but the wing made the best of what it had. On 9 October, BR471, flown by Sergeant Michael Clifford of 452 Squadron crashed into the sea. This was the first Spitfire fatality in Australia, but the loss was also the pointer to a problem, which would cause the loss of more aircraft in the future.

The de Havilland constant-speed airscrew on the Spitfire VC suffered from oil leaks and had a propensity to overspeed, causing engine failure. This problem was never fully rectified and continued to plague the aircraft throughout its Australian service. Another Spitfire, (BR568), was damaged in a landing accident on the 27th, further reducing the aircraft available for training. The wing was desperately needed in the North, but until replacements for the aircraft repossessed by the RAF arrived, they lacked the feathers to fly.

The situation improved in October when three more ships arrived in Melbourne carrying a total of 64 Spitfires. These were quickly assembled at No. 1 Aircraft Depot, Laverton, and most were taken on the strength of No.1 Wing during November. The typical time from an aircraft arriving at No.1 AD, to its being delivered to No.1 Wing, was about three weeks, although some were delivered in about half this time. This was a minor miracle as it meant that the aircraft depot was assembling and checking out approximately two Spitfires a day. From this time, Spitfires arrived in Australia in a steady stream and it became possible to equip an Operational Training Unit and consider the establishment of yet another Spitfire Squadron. The RAAF would face no more problems with shortages of Spitfires.

In early November No. 452 Sqn moved to Bankstown and No. 457 took up residence at Camden. This prevented congestion at Richmond, where No. 54 Sqn remained, but the three squadrons were still close enough to practice wing exercises. Throughout December training proceeded at a furious pace. To add even more workload it was found necessary to re-camouflage the Spitfires. These had been prepared for overseas service before dispatch to Australia. As well as fitting engine dust filters, pressurized fuel systems and other mechanical improvements, the aircraft had been painted in the RAF specified camouflage scheme for overseas service. This consisted of the RAF colours Dark Earth and Middlestone on the upper surfaces and Azure Blue on the under surfaces.

These colours were deemed unsuitable for service in Australia’s far North where the predominant colours were green and brown. It was decided that the lighter of the two upper surface colours, Middlestone, would be overpainted with the RAAF colour Foliage Green. This entailed extra work for the harassed ground crews.

The move North to the Wing’s new operational area commenced as the New Year dawned. It had been six months since the squadrons had left England and the pilots had done little flying. Many had not flown an operational sortie for over nine months, and the new boys had no operational flying at all, but now they were to move up to Darwin to protect that city and the surrounding military installations from Japanese air raids.

The ground crews were taken north by ship and the air echelon commenced its move in the middle of January. The route was Richmond – Mildura – Oodnadatta – Alice Springs – Daly Waters – to Batchelor Airstrip, some 90 km South of Darwin. The Australian Spitfire squadrons were forced to wait for a few days at Batchelor until Nos 76 and 77 Squadrons had cleared the area. No. 452 Squadron then moved into Strauss Airstrip, about 43 km South of Darwin, and 457 took up residence at Livingstone Airstrip 55 km South of Darwin on 31 January, 1943. No. 54 Squadron had proceeded directly to the RAAF Darwin Aerodrome. (Also known as Nightcliff).

On 2 February a Japanese ‘Dinah’ reconnaissance aircraft was reported approaching Darwin. Several Spitfires from No. 54 Squadron scrambled, and Flight Lieutenant Bob Foster dispatched it into the Timor Sea just off Melville Island. No.1 Fighter Wing had its first victory and the Japanese had been denied photos of the presence of the Spitfires. It was somewhat in vain however, as the next day another ‘Dinah’ flew over the area unmolested.