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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to thank the late Lindsay Peet for his assistance with information on Bock's Creek.
"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products
© Peter Dunn OAM 2020 |
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This page first produced 2 January 1999
This page last updated 06 February 2024