JAPANESE AIR RAID
AT DRYSDALE MISSION AIRFIELD
ON 27 SEPTEMBER 1943

 

The airfield and the staging base at Drysdale Mission in Western Australia were bombed at 0956 hrs on 27 September 1943 by twenty one IJAAF Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" bombers escorted by Navy Zero fighters. They bombed and machine gunned the airfield. The ammunition hut exploded when it was hit by a bomb. There were no casualties at the airfield but a direct hit on a slit trench at the Mission itself, killed Father Thomas and five aboriginals.

The Staging base, located on Kalumburu Mission, was used by Operational Base Unit No. 58 and the airfield was a refuelling and ammunition depot for the RAAF anti-submarine aircraft operating between Darwin and Fremantle. The first operation mission from the airfield was on 2 December 1942 when Beaufighters of 31 Squadron RAAF attacked and destroyed enemy aircraft on Penfiu airfield at Koepang on Timor.

 

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This page first produced 1 August 1999

This page last updated 21 February 2020