Our readers may wonder why an air force history book has been reviewed in a maritime publication. The answer is simple in the concept of “combined operations,” under which air forces and navies worked together, usually co-operatively, in war.
This interesting book comprises a collection of articles, letters, and anecdotes describing the World War II adventures involving the Royal Australian Air Force’s powerful, fast and wide-ranging aircraft, the twin-engined Bristol Beaufighters. They fought widely across northern Australia and into New Guinea before advancing to the wider South West Pacific theatre.
Two of the featured stories involved naval activity. The first was the so-called “28 minute battle”, the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, in which Beaufighters, along with other Australian and American aircraft, played an important part.
The Beaufighters, with their powerful forward-firing armament and excellent low-altitude flying characteristics, led the attack on a Japanese naval force of 16 ships. These aircraft strafed the decks and bridges of the ships to facilitate accurate low-level bombing attacks by US Army Air Forces Mitchell bombers.
The combination worked well with 14 Japanese ships being sunk and some thousands of their troops and sailors killed. That, effectively, contained the Japanese forces along the northern New Guinea coast.
The next anecdote was written by a Royal Australian Navy petty officer who was aboard an Australian corvette that was attacked by a squadron of Japanese Zero fighters off the northern New Guinea coast. Things were looking grim until a flight of Beaufighters arrived. They quickly destroyed and dispersed the attacking Zeros and the corvette crew were eternally grateful. No Beaufighters were lost in either battle.
So, a small but important piece of Australia’s naval history emerged from a wider air force history.
Author: Patricia Skehan
Available from Hachette Australia, Sydney
Web: www.hachette.com.au