Tarakan Island
On 18 December Major John H. Davies, 27th BG (L) commander, and an aircrew of 20 flew from Clark Field on Luzon in two B-18s and one Douglas C-39 of Transport Command to Tarakan Island in the Dutch East Indies to Darwin Australia arriving on 22 December. Flying from Darwin, the group arrived in Brisbane on 24 December to pick up their A-24s off the ship USAT "Meigs". However, as a swift Japanese advance prevented his group from returning to the Philippines, the air echelon of the 27th was ordered to operate from Brisbane.