Hey guys.... I was wondering if any of you knew anything about Australian pilots in the Pacific theater of war? One of my great grandads was a Fighter pilot in the Pacific theater but i cant seem to pin down which squadron he was with and what model plane he flew. All we have of his time in the Pacific is a few medals that he recieved while flying there.
Check out this site to get you started. Peter Dunn I have another link in a thread on here somewhere I'll try to find it and post later.
Here's another site, but I don't know how much help it will be Australia's War 1939-1945 | Australians in war | World War 2 | War in the Pacific You could also try here, if he flew Spitfires RAAF Spitfires in the Pacific War There are others, but I'm not sure what you're looking for, or what you already know.
I concur that Peter Dunn has done a magnificent job and service with http://www.ozatwar.com/ His information is so complete, you may well find your relatives named in accounts there. A good guess would be to start here: No. 73 Wing RAAF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._73_Wing_RAAF and The Defence of Moresby: Overview Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boats of RAAF Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons (found in ozatwar, but not live linked) were initially based at Port Moresby in New Guinea, flying long-range ocean patrols. After Port Moresby came under aerial attack with the loss of several flying boats, the squadrons moved to the comparative safety of Bowen in May 1942 and continued to stage north through Cairns, but 11 Sqdn was based there again in early 1943 On 21 March 1942, 75 Squadron RAAF with Kittyhawk fighters arrived. Less than two hours after their arrival the unit made their first combat sortie. By 30 March they had lost 11 aircraft and only the arrival of replacements enabled the unit to maintain ten serviceable machines. 32 Squadron RAAF flew Lockheed Hudsons and 4 Squadron flew CAC Wirraway training aircraft in battle ground attacks (!!!) In early 1943 several RAAF squadrons were also posted there during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea No. 100 Squadron RAAF Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers No. 30 Squadron RAAF Bristol Beaufighters 22 Squadron RAAF Douglas Bostons [video=youtube;YVLV67xILI4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLV67xILI4[/video]
