JAPANESE AIR RAIDS IN AUSTRALIA
DURING WW2

 

NORTHERN TERRITORY

There were officially 64 Japanese bombing raids on Darwin during WW2. I have attempted to identify them below.

19 Feb 42   (9.58 a.m.) Darwin Town, Shipping, Darwin RAAF Airfield Darwin Raid No. 1
19 Feb 42   (11.58 a.m.) Darwin RAAAF Airfield Darwin Raid No. 2
19 Feb 42 Bathurst Island  
4 Mar 42   (2.00 p.m.) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 3
16 Mar 42   (1.30 a.m.) Darwin RAAF airfield and AA Battery at Bagot Darwin Raid No. 4
17 Mar 42 Darwin? (supposed raid during arrival of Gen MacArthur)  
19 Mar 42    (11.40 a.m.) Darwin town, Myilly Point, & Larrakeyah Darwin Raid No. 5
22 Mar 42   (00.51 a.m.) Darwin Darwin Raid No. 6
22 Mar 42 (10:21am) Katherine  
23 Mar 42? Darwin??  
28 Mar 42 (11:43 am) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 7
30 Mar 42    (03.10 p.m.) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 8
30 Mar 42 Darwin RAAF airfield  
31 Mar 42 (1:20 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 9
31 Mar 42 (10:19 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 10
2 Apr 42 (3:30 pm) Darwin town (Harvey St & McMinn St., & Shell oil tanks Darwin Raid No. 11
2 Apr 42 Sattler airfield  
4 Apr 42 (1:48 pm) Darwin Civil airfield & Parap Hotel Darwin Raid No. 12
5 Apr 42 (12:29 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 13
25 Apr 42 (2:00 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 14
27 Apr 42 (12:07 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 15
13 Jun 42 (11:20 am) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 16
14 Jun 42 (1:14 pm) Darwin town area strafed Darwin Raid No. 17
15 Jun 42 (12:20 pm) Larrakeyah to Stokes Hill, Darwin Darwin Raid No. 18
16 Jun 42 (12:01pm) Darwin town area Darwin Raid No. 19
26 Jun 42   (8.50 p.m.) Darwin??  
25 Jul 42 (8:50 pm) Darwin town area Darwin Raid No. 20
26 Jul 42 (9:39 - 10:54 pm) Darwin Vesteys Darwin Raid No. 21
27 Jul 42 (10:27 pm) Knuckey's Lagoon, Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 22
28 Jul 42  (00:45 am) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 23
29 Jul 42  (00:59 am) Darwin town area, Knuckey's Lagoon Darwin Raid No. 24
30 Jul 42  (03:58 am) Darwin town area & Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 25
30 Jul 42 Darwin  
31 Jul 42   (1.33 p.m.) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 26
23 Aug 42 (12:12 pm) Hughes airfield Darwin Raid No. 27
24 Aug 42 (9:24 pm) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 28
24 Aug 42 10:14 pm) Noonamah Darwin Raid No. 29
25 Aug 42 (00:05 am) Darwin & Parap Darwin Raid No. 30
27 Aug 42 (03:45 -05:37 am) Cox Peninsula, & Botanical Gardens Darwin Raid No. 31
28 Aug 42 (03:35 am) Darwin railway yards & Port Patterson Darwin Raid No. 32
30 Aug 42 (02:39 am) Darwin town area Darwin Raid No. 33
31 Aug 42 (05:14 am) Darwin town area & Cox Peninsula Darwin Raid No. 34
25 Sep 42 (03:41 am) Darwin town area & Knuckey's Lagoon Darwin Raid No. 35
25 Sep 42 (05:48 am) Darwin town area & Daly Street Bridge Darwin Raid No. 36
26 Sep 42 (05:22 am) Livingstone airfield Darwin Raid No. 37
27 Sep 42 (04:56 am) Bynoe Harbour Darwin Raid No. 38
27 Sep 42 (05:44 am) Darwin town area (Frances Bay) Darwin Raid No. 39
24 Oct 42 (04:42 hrs) Batchelor Airfield Darwin Raid No. 40
24 Oct 42 (04:52 am) Pell airfield Darwin Raid No. 41
24 Oct 42 04:57 am) Cox Peninsula Darwin Raid No. 42
24 Oct 42 (05:12 am) Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 43
25 Oct 42 (05:30 am) Darwin town area & Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 44
26 Oct 42 (04:54 am) Darwin town area & Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 45
27 Oct 42 (02:20 am) Darwin town area & Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 46
23 Nov 42 (03:00 - 04:39 am) Darwin town area & Darwin RAAF airfield Darwin Raid No. 47
23 Nov 42 Coomalie Creek Airfield  
25 Nov 42 Strauss Airfield  
26 Nov 42   (03.20 a.m.) Darwin town area, Strauss airfield & Hughes airfield Darwin Raid No. 48
27 Nov 42 (03:56 - 04:46 am) Coomalie Creek, Hughes & Strauss airfields Darwin Raid No. 49
20 Jan 43 (10:44 pm - 00:15 am) AWC Camp, S/L Station, Ironstone Darwin Raid No. 50
21 Jan 43 (9:54 pm) Darwin area (Frances Bay) Darwin Raid No. 51
22 Jan 43 (1.30pm) HMAS Patricia Cam near Wessel Islands  
22 Jan 43 (early morning) Strauss Airfield  
23 Jan 43 (early morning) Strauss Airfield  
2 Mar 43 (2:34 pm) Coomalie Creek airfield Darwin Raid No. 52
15 Mar 43 (11:20 am) Darwin oil Fuel tanks and Floating Dock Darwin Raid No. 53
2 May 43 (10:15 am) Darwin RAAF airfield & Floating Dock Darwin Raid No. 54
9 May 43 Millingimbi  
10 May 43 Millingimbi  
28 May 43 Millingimbi  
20 Jun 43 (10:43 am) Winnellie (High Level) & Darwin RAAF airfield (Low Level) Darwin Raid No. 55
28 Jun 43 (11:07 am) Vesteys Darwin Raid No. 56
30 Jun 43 (12:30pm) Fenton airfield (aka Brock's Creek) Darwin Raid No. 57
6 Jul 43 (12:02pm) Fenton airfield (aka Brock's Creek) Darwin Raid No. 58
13 Aug 43 Hughes Airfield  
13 Aug 43 (9:45pm) Fenton airfield (aka Brock's Creek) Darwin Raid No. 59
13 Aug 43 (11:12 pm) Fenton (aka Brock's Creek) & Coomalie Creek airfields Darwin Raid No. 60
14 Aug 43 Long airfield  
21 Aug 43 (03:07 am) Fenton (aka Brock's Creek) & Coomalie Creek airfields Darwin Raid No. 61
21 Aug 43 (03:30 am) Pell airfield  
15 Sep 43 (00:25 am) (or was it 16 Sep?) Fenton (aka Brock's Creek) & Long airfields Darwin Raid No. 62
18 Sep 43 (03:50 am) Fenton (aka Brock's Creek) & Long airfields Darwin Raid No. 63
10 Nov 43 Coomalie Creek  
12 Nov 43 (03:53 - 05:39 am) Parap, Adelaide River & Batchelor airfield Darwin Raid No. 64

 

Notes:-

1. Fenton and Long airfields are about 90 miles from Darwin so am unsure how the above Fenton and Long raids could be attributable to being called a Darwin Raid. Perhaps they bombed Darwin on their trip down to or back from Fenton. Strauss, Hughes and Livingstone are between 21 and 25 miles from Darwin. Batchelor, Gould, Pell and Coomalie Creek are nominally 45 miles from Darwin.

2. Brock's Creek is a small mining town in the Northern Territory, south of Darwin about 4 Kms off the stuart highway 49 Kms south of Adelaide River near Fenton and Long (where the USAAF's 380th Bomb Group, comprising four squadrons of B-24s, were stationed 1943-44). The Japanese used the name, Brocks Creek when Tokyo Rose was broadcasting propaganda to the Americans. It is also used the name Brock's Creek in the 1989 book "Japanese naval aces and fighter units in WWII" by Hata and Izawa. Units located at Brock's Creek 1942-45 most were mostly Army such as 13 Detention Barracks and 77 Platoon Bulk Issue Petrol and Oil Depot (BIPOD) which supplied aviation fuel to Fenton and Long via an underground pipe line. There was also an Army Supply Depot at Brock's Creek. There was quite a complex railway system at Brock's Creek.

 

QUEENSLAND

14 Mar 1942 Horn Island
18 Mar 1942 Horn Island
30 Apr 1942 Horn Island
11 May 1942 Horn Island
7 Jul 1942 Horn Island
26 Jul 1942 Townsville
28 Jul 1942 Townsville
29 Jul 1942 Townsville
30 Jul 1942 Horn Island
31 Jul 1942 Mossman
1 Aug 1942 Horn Island
17 Jun 1943 Horn Island

 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

20 Feb 42 MV Koolama
27 Feb 42 USS Childs
3 Mar 42 Broome
3 Mar 42 A beach about 80 kms north of Broome
3 Mar 42 Wyndham meatworks & Wyndham Airfield
4 Mar 42 Dutch DC-3 on beach Carnot Bay
20 Mar 42 Derby
23 Mar 42 Wyndham Airfield
28 Mar 42 Drysdale River Mission Airfield (Kalumburu)
3 Apr 42 Broome
26 May 42 Drysdale River Mission Airfield (Kalumburu)
27 May 42 Drysdale River Mission Airfield (Kalumburu)
30 Jul 42 Port Hedland
18 Aug 42 Port Hedland
27 Aug 42 Broome and Broome Airfield
20 May 43 Potshot Airfield (Exmouth) & Exmouth US Navy Base
21 May 43 Exmouth & Potshot Airfield (Exmouth)
22 May 43 Exmouth & Potshot Airfield (Exmouth)
17 Aug 43 Port Hedland
15 Sep 43 Exmouth
16 Sep 43 Port Hedland, Exmouth & Potshot Airfield (Exmouth)
27 Sep 43 Drysdale Mission airfield (Kalumburu) & Drysdale RIver Mission

 

Australian cities shelled by Japanese submarines during WW2
(Includes Sydney, Newcastle and Port Gregory)

 

E-mails from visitors to this page

 

REFERENCE BOOKS

"The Empire Strikes South - Japan's Air War against Northern Australia 1942-45"
by Dr. Tom Lewis OAM

"Darwin's Air War - 1942-1945. An Illustrated History"
by The Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory

"Darwin Bombed"
"The Unit History of 14 Heavy Anti-aircraft Battery"
by Jack Mulholland

Darwin's Battle for Australia
A History of Darwin's Role in the Defence of Australia in WW-2

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank the late Lindsay Peet for his assistance with information on Bock's Creek.

 

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

I need your help

Copyright

©  Peter Dunn OAM 2020

Disclaimer

Please e-mail me
any information or photographs

"Australia @ War"
8GB USB Memory Stick

This page first produced 2 January 1999

This page last updated 06 February 2024