RAAF at War 1939 1945 (continued)

In addition to Australians of the RAAF serving in RAF Fighter Command, Australians were well represented in Coastal Command and a very large number in Bomber Command.

Men of the RAAF flew in every major operation mounted by Bomber Command. They saw the fires of Berlin and dozens of other major German cities; they saw the flak of the Ruhr ('Happy Valley'); they helped to knock out railway systems and marshalling yards, rip open U-boat pens and wreck flying-bomb sites. But the RAAF paid a heavy price.

One squadron alone (No. 460) lost nearly 1,000 killed or wounded. Altogether in Bomber Command 3,486 Australians were killed. One of them, Flight Sergeant R. H. Middleton, flying a Stirling bomber with a RAF squadron was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Although severely wounded he nursed his crippled aircraft from Turin, Italy, across the Alps to England where five of his seven crew parachuted to safety.

The other two drowned in the sea and Middleton died alone in his aircraft when it crashed into the sea.

RAAF crews took part in the first 1,000-bomber raids on Bremen and Cologne in 1942, and three brilliant Australian captains of Lancaster bombers were among thirteen Australian aircrew in the famous 'dambuster' raid on the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr on the night of 16-17 May 1943.

In the last two years of the combined bombing offensive, Australian squadrons alone dropped 65,000 tons of bombs and incendiaries during 692 raids against 241 targets and to this must be added the effort of some 6,000 men serving with RAF units.

One of the most highly decorated Australian airmen during the 1939-45 War was David John Shannon who, as a Flight Lieutenant in May 1943, took part in the famous Lancaster bomber attacks on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams under the leadership of the late Wing Commander Guy Gibson, V.C., D.S.O., D.F.C. Shannon, only twenty-two years old, was awarded the D.S.O. for his exploits with the 'Dambusters', to add to a previously awarded D.F.C. He was subsequently awarded bars to both decorations.

Many Australian aircrew played a notable part in the struggle to prevent the German U-boat attempt to cut the flow of arms and supplies to Britain by merchant shipping. No. 10 Squadron was joined in this campaign in 1942 by another RAAF Sunderland squadron - No. 461.

In addition, No. 455 Squadron Gloster Gladiators from NO- 3 (RAAF) Squadron fly in loose formation over Bardia in the Middle East on return from a sortie against the Axis forces.

transferred to Coastal Command from Bomber Command in 1942 and, operating in Beaufighters, attacked enemy shipping with great success. Another 1,5oo Australians in RAF squadrons using Hudsons, Whitleys, Wellingtons, Sunderlands and Catalinas took part in the battle.

Australian-born Group Captain H. L Edwards served during the 1939-45 War with the RAF.

He won his Victoria Cross in July 1941 when he led a formation of Blenheims on a daring low-level attack on Bremen, Germany.

Group Captain Edwards was the first airman in the 1939-45 War to gain the combination of V.C., D.S.O. and D.F.C.

Australia's first Victoria Cross winner in the 1939-45 War, Flight Sergeant K. H. Middleton, who served in No. 149 Squadron, RAF.

Flight Sergeant Middleton was the captain of a Stirling bomber which was damaged by anti-aircraft fire during a raid on the Fiat works at Turin in November 1942- Middleton lost an ey e and sustained other serious wounds, and, barely conscious he nursed his crippled four-engine bomber across the Alps and Europe.

After ordering his crew to bail out over the English Channel, crash landed in the water.

He lost his life and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross on 15 January 1943

As maintenance men of No. 451 (RAAF) Squadron carry out routine work on their aircraft at a base in the Western Desert, two of the Squadron's Spitfires take off on a mission against the German front line. This Squadron had a varied career following its formation at Bankstown, New South Wales, seeing service in the Middle East, Corsica, Southern France, Italy and the United Kingdom

Australian Beaufighters of No. 455 Squadron carry out a low level attack on German shipping in the English Channel. The Squadron, which earlier in its history operated Hampden bombers, was stationed in the United Kingdom from June 1941 to May 1945. The original bf this artist's impression of the attack now hangs in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra

Old hands at operating in desert conditions, ground crew members of No. 450 (RAAF) Squadron carry out a routine overhaul on a Kitty. hawk somewhere in Tunisia. The Squadron first began its Middle East operations at Aqir in Lebanon, in June 1941, and followed the desert campaign through to Tripoli. It later operated from airfields in Sicily before moving to the Italian mainland in September 1943. The Squadron finished the war at Cervia, Italy.