The Japanese air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942 are well known to most Australians, but what happened afterwards? For almost two years the airspace over north-west Australia was routinely penetrated by Japanese air raids, tallying about 70 in total. The 1942– 43 air raids on Darwin constituted the only sustained and intensive direct assault on Australian territory in the whole of World War II. Telling the story of the RAAF’ s No 1 Fighter Wing, composed of both Australian and British spitfire pilots, Darwin Spitfires explores the little-known 1943 season of air combat over the top end, recovering this important aspect of Australian history.

Anthony Cooper is a former RAAF officer and retired school teacher with a Ph.D. in history on German civil aviation in the Weimar Republic, and the author of HMAS Bataan 1952 (New South 2010); Darwin Spitfires (New South, 2011 & Pen and Sword, 2013); Kokoda Air Strikes (New South, 2014); RAAF Bombers over Germany (Rosenberg, 2016); Paddy Finucane and the Legend of the Kenley Wing (Fonthill, 2016); and Sub Hunters (Fonthill, 2020). He has had media experience as an author, including interviews for print media, live radio interviews, and book talks.

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Playing catch-up 2 The raid on Coomalie Creek 3 ‘ A sharp reverse’ 4 Failure of the big wing 5 Dogfights over Millingimbi 6 Success at last 7 The army raid 8 A missed opportunity 9 The first Fenton raid 10 The second Fenton raid 11 The defeat of Japanese reconnaissance 12 The accounting of battle References Bibliography Index