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NINE ENEMY PLANES

SHOT DOWN AT DARWIN FOR LOSS OF ONE ALLIED AIRCRAFT. JAPANESE RAID ON WEST AUSTRALIA. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 31. The greatest air battle of the war in the south-west Pacific was fought over Darwin yesterday afternoon. Two Japanese heavy bombers and seven fighters were shot down. for the loss of one Allied plane when our fighters intercepted a raiding force of 27 bombers escorted by 22 Zero fighters. The action is described in today’s Allied headquarters’ ‘ communique as “brilliant.” At the same time another Japanese force was attacking Port Hedland, which is 300 miles south-east of Broome on Australia’s north-west coast. This is the farthest point south to l be raided by the enemy. Bombing from a great height, the nine planes employed caused little damage and only one casualty. Port Hedland is approximately 1000 miles north of Perth by air line. A pre* vious air attack on this coast was made by the Japanese on March 3, when Broome and Wyndham, 480 miles farther north, were attacked. Hedland is the terminus of the railway from the mining centre of Marble Bar, and it is a regular port of call for vessels trading along Australia’s north-west coast. TRANSPORT SET ON FIRE. Enemy bombers yesterday also made light and ineffectual attacks on Port Moresby and on Horn Island in Torres Straits. Tn the New Guinea sector yesterday the initiative was with the Allies. Our heavy bombers scored five direct hits on a medium-sized Japanese transport 100 miles off the northeastern coast. The ship was set on fire, and the blaze was visible 30 miles away. An escorting destroyer was ’ raked with machine-gun fire, and its anti-air-craft fire was silenced. An Allied reconnaissance plane in the same area shot down one enemy fighter and probably destroyed a second. From all these operations three of our planes are missing.

LULL IN LAND FIGHTING. During this intensified air activity there has been a temporary lull in the Papuan land fighting in the Kokoda sector. Kokoda village is still in “no man’s land.” The country in which the fighting is taking place comprises alternating rolling kunai grasslands and thick jungle. The kunai grass areas are stated to be capable of ready conversion to aerodromes merely by cutting the grass, and it has been estimated that an emergency landing field could be cleared in four hours. Landing in uncleared kunai areas would be hazardous, and such landing fields could be used only in dry weather. No mention is made in today’s Allied communique of damage and casualties caused by the heavy raid on Darwin, which was made following an ineffectual light attack in the morning. The Japanese formation, however, was completely broken up by the intercepting Allied fighters, which scored a conspicuous success. The transport attacked by the Allied bombers off the New Guinea coast is stated by observers to have been obviously headed for the new enemy base at Gona. It was sighted by an Allied reconnaissance plane, which quickly brought the bombers to the attack. LITTLE DAMAGE DONE BY ENEMY BOMBS IN DARWIN. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. It is estimated that about 150 bombs were dropped on Darwin, but none caused any damage to permanent installations. Following their usual tactics, the enemy machines remained at a high altitude, between 26,000 and 27,000 feet. Our fighters succeeded in breaking up the enemy formation. The raid was Darwin’s twentyseventh and the ninth since Saturday.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19420801.2.28

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1942, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
577

NINE ENEMY PLANES Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1942, Page 3

NINE ENEMY PLANES Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1942, Page 3

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