page_title: Western Area Command (RAAF)
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Western Area Command (RAAF) / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM caption: Western Australia. Lieutenant-General H. Gordon Bennett and Allied Naval, Army and Air Force Chiefs discuss tactical move on South-West Pacific Area war situation map. Shown are:- Commodore C.J. Pope, RAN - Naval Officer in Charge Fremantle (1); Captain A.R. McCann, United States Navy (2); Air Commodore R.J. Brownell, RAAF (3); NX70343 Lieutenant-General H. Gordon Bennett, CB, CMG, DSO, VD, General-Officer-Commanding 3 Australian Corps (4).
context_page_description: Western Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in January 1941, and controlled RAAF units located in Western Australia. Headquartered in Perth, Western Area Command was responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. Its aircraft conducted anti-submarine operations throughout the war, and attacked targets in the Dutch East Indies during the Borneo campaign in 1945.
  The area command continued to operate after the war, but its assets and staffing were much reduced. Its responsibilities were subsumed in February 1954 by the RAAF's new functional commands: Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands. Western Area headquarters was disbanded in November 1956.
context_section_description: Prior to World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force was small enough for all its elements to be directly controlled by RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne. After war broke out in September 1939, the Air Force began to decentralise its command structure, commensurate with expected increases in manpower and units. Between March 1940 and May 1941, the RAAF divided Australia and New Guinea into four geographically based command-and-control zones: Central Area, Southern Area, Western Area, and Northern Area. The roles of these area commands were  air defence, protection of adjacent sea lanes, and aerial reconnaissance. Each was led by an Air Officer Commanding (AOC) responsible for the administration and operations of all air bases and units within his boundary.
  Western Area Command, headquartered in Perth, was formed on 9 January 1941 to control all RAAF units in Western Australia. These included No. 14 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron, No. 25 (General Purpose) Squadron and No. 5 Initial Training School at RAAF Station Pearce; No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School at Cunderdin; and the soon-to-be-raised No. 4 Service Flying Training School at Geraldton.  RAAF Headquarters had maintained control of Western Australian units pending the area's formation. Western Area's inaugural AOC was Group Captain (acting Air Commodore) Hippolyte "Kanga" De La Rue. His senior air staff officer was Group Captain Alan Charlesworth. Headquarters staff numbered forty-one, including fifteen officers. No. 14 Squadron, operating Lockheed Hudsons, and No. 25 Squadron, flying CAC Wirraways, were responsible for convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol. Shortly after taking command, De La Rue lobbied RAAF Headquarters for a force of long-range Catalina flying boats to augment No. 14 Squadron's Hudsons, but none were made available.
  By mid-1941, RAAF Headquarters had decided to form training units in the southern and eastern states into semi-geographical, semi-functional groups separate to the area commands. This led to the establishment in August of No. 1 (Training) Group in Melbourne, covering Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and No. 2 (Training) Group in Sydney, covering New South Wales and Queensland. At the same time, Central Area was dissolved and its responsibilities divided between Southern and Northern Areas, and No. 2 (Training) Group. Western Area, uniquely among the area commands, retained responsibility for training, as well as operations and maintenance, within its boundaries. In November 1941, all available aircraft from Nos. 14 and 25 Squadrons, as well as eight Avro Ansons from No. 4 Service Flying Training School, took part in the search for HMAS Sydney after it was sunk by the German raider Kormoran; a Hudson and an Anson each located lifeboats bearing Kormoran's crew.
  In January 1942, Northern Area was split into North-Western and North-Eastern Areas, to counter separate Japanese threats to Northern Australia and New Guinea, respectively, following the outbreak of the Pacific War. In May, a new area command, Eastern Area, was raised to control units within New South Wales and southern Queensland. Of geographical necessity, the operational responsibilities of the RAAF's southerly areas centred on maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare, while the northern commands concentrated on air defence and offensive bombing. Aircraft from Western Area made their first submarine attack on 2 March, but it was the USS Sargo, which had not identified itself; the American submarine was damaged but continued on to Fremantle. Identification of friendly vessels was an ongoing issue; RAAF patrols often had to depart without the latest naval intelligence reports on Allied shipping, and ships could in any case divert from their planned routes. It was often difficult for observers in fast-moving aircraft to make out Allied signal flags on a ship, and ships' crews did not always immediately recognise RAAF aircraft even when the latter employed their Aldis lamps to identify themselves.
  No. 35 (Transport) Squadron, operating de Havilland Fox Moth and
caption: Air Commodore Brownell (second right), Lieutenant-General Bennett (far right) and Allied naval officers discussing an SWPA situation map, February 1943
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