page_title: No. 1 Wing RAAF
section_title: Garrison duty
hierarchical_section_title: No. 1 Wing RAAF / World War II / Garrison duty
caption_attribution_description: Australian War Memorial image 082297A. A Royal Air Force pilot explains the sighting mechanism of a Spitfire fighter to Billy Hughes at Darwin.
context_page_description: No. 1 Wing was an Australian Flying Corps and Royal Australian Air Force wing active during World War I and World War II. The wing was established on 1 September 1917 as the 1st Training Wing and commanded the AFC's pilot training squadrons in England until April 1919, when it was disbanded. It was reformed on 7 October 1942 as a fighter unit comprising two Australian and one British flying squadrons equipped with Supermarine Spitfire aircraft, and a mobile fighter sector headquarters. The wing provided air defence to Darwin and several other key Allied bases in northern Australia until the end of the war, and was again disbanded in October 1945.
  During its first months at Darwin, No. 1 Wing intercepted several of the air raids conducted against Northern Australia by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and Imperial Japanese Navy. Although the wing was hampered by mechanical problems with its Spitfires and suffered heavy losses in some engagements, it eventually downed a greater number of Japanese aircraft than it lost in combat. After the final Japanese air raid on northern Australia in November 1943, No.
context_section_description: The raid on 12 November 1943 was the last Japanese attack on northern Australia. In December the Japanese transferred several of the air units based in the islands north of Australia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to counter Allied offensives. Few Japanese aircraft were subsequently based within 600 miles (970 km) of Darwin, and the focus of the Allied forces in the North-Western Area shifted from defending northern Australia to attacking Japanese positions in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) and western New Guinea. As a result, No. 1 Wing had little to do and morale declined. Spitfires were scrambled in response to several false alerts during the last months of the year, but flying was heavily curtailed by the monsoon from November. Most of the wing's veteran pilots were posted to other units at the end of 1943 and were replaced with less experienced aircrew.
  On 25 February 1944 Wing Commander Dick Cresswell, who had previously commanded No. 77 Squadron, was appointed No. 1 Wing's new wing leader. Cresswell's posting to this role was made upon the request of Jeffrey, who tasked him with reducing the wing's rate of flying accidents. Cresswell achieved this through instructing pilots to make 'power on' approaches and landings and having the Spitfires' wheels modified. On 8 March, No. 1 Wing was ordered to urgently dispatch No. 452 and No. 457 Squadrons to the vicinity of Perth, Western Australia in response to concerns that a Japanese naval force would raid the area. Both squadrons arrived at RAAF Station Guildford on 12 March after a long flight in severe weather conditions during which one Spitfire crashed at Carnarvon and another made a forced landing at Gingin. On the day of their arrival the two squadrons assumed responsibility for air defence of the Perth-Fremantle area alongside the CAC Boomerang-equipped No. 85 Squadron RAAF. No attack eventuated and the Spitfire squadrons were directed to return to Darwin on 20 March. During this period the Kittyhawk-equipped No. 84 Squadron was transferred from Horn Island to Livingstone Airfield to replace the Spitfires while they were at Perth; this unit arrived at Livingstone on 12 March and departed twelve days later. On 18 April the wing made strafing attacks on Japanese positions in the Babar Islands. Later that month No. 452 Squadron converted to the more advanced Mark VIII Spitfire. In May 1944, No. 1 Wing's headquarters and No. 57 and 457 Squadrons were deployed to Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia to protect the facilities which had been established to refuel the British Eastern Fleet before Operation Transom, during which it attacked Surabaya in Java. This deployment was hampered by a shortage of transport aircraft and inadequate facilities at Exmouth Gulf and the airstrips en route to the area. Cresswell also left the wing in May to become the wing leader of No. 81 Wing. On 12 June No. 452 Squadron aircraft shot down a Dinah. Despite the limited Japanese air activity, Air Vice Marshal Cole continued to regard No. 1 Wing as being "essential" to the defence of the North Western Area and in May reported that he could not release it for other duties.
  No. 1 Wing was restructured from July 1944. On 1 July, No. 452 and No. 457 Squadrons were transferred to No. 80 Wing RAAF, which had been formed to conduct offensive operations in the NEI under the command of Clive Caldwell. They were replaced by two British units; No. 548 and No. 549 Squadrons RAF. This put the wing in a unique position: all of its flying squadrons were now British units. The new RAF squadrons had been formed in Australia, as a result of a further meeting between H.V. Evatt and Winston Churchill in July 1943, at which Evatt had requested additional RAF units. They were formed from British pilots and Australian ground crew at Lawnton, Queensland on 15 December 1943 but did not receive their Mark VIII Spitfires until April the next year. No. 548 Squadron was initially stationed at Livingstone Airfield, and its air echelon arrived there on 10 June after a flight in which four Spitfires made forced land
caption: A RAF pilot explaining a Spitfire fighter's sighting mechanism to former Prime Minister Billy Hughes at Darwin in November 1944
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