No . 80 Wing RAAF No . 80 Wing was a Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) wing of World War II . The unit was formed on 15 May 1944 and eventually comprised three squadron s equipped with Spitfire fighter aircraft . The wing ' s headquarters was absorbed into the newly formed No . 11 Group on 30 July 1945 . The wing was established to provide fighter protection for an Allied offensive from Darwin in northern Australia into the eastern Netherlands East Indies ( NEI ) . This operation was effectively cancelled in June 1944 , however , leaving No . 80 Wing without a clear mission . The unit remained at Darwin until it moved to Morotai in the NEI between December 1944 and March 1945 . Due to the small number of Japanese aircraft remaining in this area the Wing ' s aircraft were mainly used in the ground attack role . From May 1945 to the end of the war two of No . 80 Wing ' s squadrons participated in the Borneo Campaign . History . Darwin . In early 1944 General George Kenney , the commander of the Allied air forces in the South West Pacific Area ( SWPA ) , adopted a goal of landing forces at Selaru Island in the eastern NEI and establishing a bomber base there . Accordingly , in early March Air Vice Marshal William Bostock , who led RAAF Command , presented Kenney with a proposal for the RAAF to contribute two fighter wings and several ancillary units to this operation , which at the time was scheduled for 15 June . One of these wings would be equipped with P - 40 Kittyhawks and the other with Spitfires . In March Group Captain Clive Caldwell , the RAAF ' s highest - scoring flying ace of the war , reluctantly accepted command of the projected Spitfire wing after his request for a transfer to Europe was rejected by Chief of the Air Staff Air Vice Marshal George Jones . In a meeting between Jones and Caldwell , Jones stated that the wing would have the highest priority for supplies and equipment . No . 80 Wing was formed at Darwin , Northern Territory on 15 May 1944 . It initially comprised No . 452 and No . 457 Squadrons , which were transferred from No . 1 Wing . Both of these squadrons had seen extensive combat over Europe and northern Australia and were based at Sattler Airfield near Darwin . The squadrons were equipped with Spitfire Vc aircraft at the time of the wing ' s establishment , but received superior Mark VIII Spitfires between June and August . General Douglas MacArthur , the commander of Allied forces in the SWPA , decided on 6 June to postpone the Selaru operation until after Allied forces landed in the Philippines . This was not communicated to No . 80 Wing , however , and Caldwell continued to develop plans for its involvement in the Selaru operation until late August . The effective cancellation of the operation left No . 80 Wing without a clear mission , and its pilots were left with nothing to do other than train . In September Air Commodore Alan Charlesworth , the commander of North - Western Area , reported to Bostock that the wing ' s morale could drop if it was not either given an active role or transferred to southern Australia . During the same period No . 80 Wing ' s pilots observed that No . 1 Wing ' s Spitfires were making occasional strafing attacks on Japanese positions in the NEI and sought approval to conduct similar operations . Caldwell did not agree to this , however , as be believed that the risks associated with flying Spitfires to the edge of their range to attack unimportant targets outweighed any benefits to morale . Morotai . In mid - September Bostock gained the agreement of Kenney ' s headquarters to deploy No . 80 Wing to the recently captured island of Morotai in the NEI as part of a redeployment of RAAF units in the SWPA . While this raised morale within No . 80 Wing , it had only a short time to prepare to move overseas . On 8 November Caldwell received orders to begin the movement to Morotai as soon as possible , and he visited the island late that month . During this visit he observed that it was likely that supply shortages would impede the wing ' s operations . No . 80 Wing ' s headquarters left Darwin on 9 December and No . 452 Squadron departed on 15 December . During the squadron ' s trip to Morotai three Spitfires were destroyed or damaged as a result of landing accidents at Merauke , New Guinea on 15 December . As expected , living facilities at Morotai were initially very basic , and Caldwell traded liquor for the services of US engineer units to improve the wing ' s camp site . The wing began flying night defence patrols shortly after No . 452 Squadron arrived at Morotai . At the time Morotai was a major Allied base and had been attacked by Japanese aircraft on multiple occasions . During the night of 24 December a Spitfire shot down a Japanese bomber over the island . This proved to be one of the last Japanese raids on Morotai , however , and no further interceptions were made . The lack of aerial opposition meant that No . 80 Wing ' s aircraft were increasingly used to strafe Japanese positions near Morotai . During January 1945 the wing flew 84 ground attack sorties , losing three Spitfires in the process . The lack of opportunities for aerial combat disappointed No . 80 Wing ' s pilots and contributed to a decline in their morale . No . 80 Wing completed its move to Morotai in March . No . 457 Squadron ' s Spitfires left Darwin on 6 February and arrived on the island two days later . Later that month No . 79 Squadron joined the wing at Morotai . This squadron had previously operated Spitfires in New Guinea and nearby islands before withdrawing to Darwin in January 1945 to receive Mark VIII Spitfires . The final ship carrying No . 80 Wing personnel and equipment from Darwin arrived at Morotai in early March . Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes , who had been appointed No . 80 Wing ' s wing leader in October 1944 , assumed temporary command of the unit for several days in late March while Caldwell made a trip to Manila . On 31 March Wing Commander Glen Cooper assumed command from Caldwell , who had reached the end of his appointment and was disillusioned with how No . 80 Wing had been used . Dissatisfaction with the tasks being undertaken by the First Tactical Air Force ( 1TAF ) , of which No . 80 Wing was part , led to the " Morotai Mutiny " in April 1945 . On 19 April , Caldwell , Gibbes and six other senior 1TAF officers attempted to resign in protest against what they believed was the misuse of fighter aircraft in ground attack operations against isolated Japanese positions . While no action was taken against these officers , Caldwell and Gibbes were later court martialled for selling liquor . From May No . 80 Wing units participated in the Australian - led Borneo Campaign . No . 457 Squadron was attached to No . 81 Wing and deployed to Labuan on 18 June as part of the Operation Oboe Six landings in the Brunei Bay region . The squadron provided air defence and flew close air support sorties alongside No . 76 Squadron , and shot down a Japanese aircraft on 20 June . In April No . 452 Squadron was attached to No . 78 Wing and took part in the landing at Tarakan in May . Delays in repairing Tarakan ' s airfield meant that it did not see any combat until 30 June , however . The squadron subsequently supported the landing at Balikpapan in July , and one of its Spitfires shot down a Japanese aircraft in the early hours of 24 July . During this period No . 79 Squadron remained at Morotai and continued to fly ground attack sorties against Japanese positions on the nearby island of Halmahera . On 30 July 1945 No . 80 Wing Headquarters was absorbed into the newly formed No . 11 Group . While it was intended that the wing ' s three flying squadrons would come under the command of this group , in the event it only took operational control of No . 79 Squadron before the war ended .