Darwin Area

[qotd]

Here are some pics of the USS Peary memorial, though these are not my own pics.

Also in the same loc is a memorial plaque with the following info, this came from a website on war memorials in australia

Insignia of American Legion

2ND LT. ROBERT J BUEL, USAAF,
WWII FIGHTER PILOT
21ST PURSUIT SQ., 35TH PURSUIT GRP.
SHOT DOWN FEB. 15, 1942
___________ . . . ___________
On Feb. 15, 1942, the P-40E Kittyhawk fighter of 2nd Lt. Buel
was one of only two planes that were available for
the defense of Northern Australia. On this date, both
aircraft were sent to defend an allied convoy under
Japanese attack, but only Buel caught up with the fleet.
Before he was shot down and plunged to his death,
2nd Lt. Buel -- alone -- downed a Japanese bomber and cleared
safe passage for the allied ships. His self-sacrifice and
valor became an inspiration to all who learned of it.

With grateful appreciation
the American Legion remembers
USAAF 2nd Lt. Robert J. Buel

[qotd]

A pic of an anti aircraft posi at Fenton, and some shots from the Darwin Air Musem of the first Zero shot down over Darwin, some nose art, a P40 wing and some Japanese wreckage, they also have a partialy restored B24/25 there as well.

[ozzaroo]

I live in sydney and hope to take a long trip 1 winter to darwin and see other sites too such as ayres rock or should i say ulhuru and macdonald ranges.There was a big japanese air raid on darwin consisting 242 aircraft on 19/02/1942 with several ships being sunk including an american destroyer.Over 243 people were killed and the city was so severelly damaged that the australian army deserted the town and headed south fearing an invasion.
The seaside town of broome, western australia also saw some action as this was the site of the r.a.a.f seaplane base.it is said that some diamonds went missing after a plane crashed on a beach near broome and have not as yet been located.
In may 1942 3 japanese midget submarines entered sydney harbour and sunk a r.a.n ferry killing 21 sailors when its torpodoes missed the usa cruiser chicago.The 6 japanese crew members of the subs all died and 1 of the subs was recovered and can be seen at the australian war memorial in canberra.The subs mother submarine fired some shells into sydney suburbs and did some minor damage to facilities.
Hope this information is of interest to fellow members of this site.

[qotd]

G'day Ozzaroo,

the Japanese certainly attacked more places thatn Darwin, I remeber as a kid in Sydney being taught about the attack in Sydney Harbour, but it was only until I was posted to Darwin did I realise the extent of the bombing up there, there is a map in the museum of Darwin city covred in red dots, the red dots represent bomb craters and they only show about half of them otherwiseit would just be a red peice of paper. The japnaese even bombed Katherine and there is still a crater on the side of the road. The dessertion by the Australian Army is a topic for debate, there was mass confussion in the city and only a few pockets of soldiers techniclaly Deserted......most of the population was evacuted to Adelaide River about and hour or so south and the intial plan was that area to be the fisrt line of resistance, but most military units held in Darwin and repeled the air raids for the next year and a half.

I found it funny that when we were doing our training to go to Iraq in 2005, part of our role was supporting a Japanese engineer unit. The commander of that unit gave a speech to us and the first thing he did was to apologise to us on behalf of his unit for his country bombing our "beautiful city" it was a very sincere apology, he bowed and said he was ashamed at what his ancestors had done.

[qotd]

I don't believe it, Just looked up the 380th bomb group website and found out that the pic of the nose art "Qauck Wac" on the remains of the B24 in the museum as from one of their aircraft, based at fenton......

[qotd]

All along the Stuart Highway between Darwin and Adelaide river there were roadside staging areas for troops moving north. Today these are signposted and marked by unit associations as to who was where and when. Normaly you will see a rodside signe with a Unit Colour Patch and a bit of history as to when they occupied the camp.

[qotd]

Some pics of Fenton Airfield and graveyard. The tank road wheel is from a Leopard AS1 left there probaly in 2003.

[uber_soldat]

just a note on the USS Peary, the gun (arft?) was recovered during the scrapping process. There are various military vehicles and munitions still on the ocean floor including bren gun carriers, GMC 6x4 , motorcycles etc.

the cats sunk off the beach can be seen at low tide and the diamonds have been found by local aboriginals.

[qotd]

It is my understanding the Peary wasn't scrappped and is still there as a war grave. The ships that were sunk near the wharf were sold as scrap to a Japanese company after the war, as well as the Guns from the east point battery. There are two catalinas at east arm in darwin harbour as well as the remains of the flying boat base there and at doctors gully

[qotd]

The Peary lies in 27 meters[2] of water in Darwin Harbour, at coordinates 12°28′30″S 130°49′45″E / 12.475°S 130.82917°E / -12.475; 130.82917Coordinates: 12°28′30″S 130°49′45″E / 12.475°S 130.82917°E / -12.475; 130.82917.[3] The wreck itself is a memorial to those who lost their lives in the first bombing raid on Australian soil and to those who defended Darwin.
Memorial
There is a memorial in Darwin in honor of the lives lost. This memorial, in Bicentennial Park, consists of a plaque and one of the 4-inch deck guns recovered from the Peary. This gun is aimed towards the Peary's resting place in the harbour.

In the words of Peter Grose, author of An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942, "The doomed yet magnificent reply by the destroyer USS Peary in Darwin harbour as Japanese dive-bombers swarmed around her deserves a place in the legend books of American military history".[1]

From wikepedia