CAC Boomerang - Operational History

Operational History

Following the devastating first air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942, the need for interceptors became more pressing. Despite the Boomerang's astonishingly short development phase — especially since the Australian aviation industry had never built fighters before, let alone designed them — by the time the Boomerang entered service, sufficient Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks had arrived from the United States. In January 1943, these were replaced in the air defence role over Darwin by No. 1 (Fighter) Wing RAAF, which had returned from Europe, equipped with the Spitfire Mk Vc.

Two of the first three operational Boomerang units, No. 83 Squadron and No. 85 Squadron, were used for home defence. No. 84 Squadron was deployed to Horn Island in Torres Strait and Dutch New Guinea (West Papua), in an attempt to address the continuing shortage of fighters in this area. The squadron was only modestly successful however. The Boomerang's low top speed and poor high altitude performance meant that No. 84 Squadron could drive off enemy attacks but rarely get close enough to Japanese aircraft to bring their guns to bear. On the only occasion when a Boomerang did close with a Japanese aircraft, its guns jammed. Fortunately, there were not many air raids in this area, and after using Boomerangs for eight months No. 84 Squadron upgraded to the Kittyhawk.

The Boomerang found its real use as a close support aircraft. In contrast to Europe or North Africa, the ground war in the jungles of the south-west Pacific was, in broad terms, a series of small unit actions fought at very close quarters by widely dispersed forces with no clear front lines. It was here that the Boomerang found its niche: as close to the troops on the ground as possible.

It had the range to go wherever it was needed (usually the aircraft were based close to the area of ground operations), heavy armament by the standards of the day and, because it was easier to fly than most fighters, the pilot could get in close to the objective and have time to concentrate on the ground forces. Sprightly low-level handling helped avoid ground fire and rough terrain and the unusually extensive armour plating protected pilots. In addition, the aircraft's simple wood and aluminium airframe proved capable of absorbing battle damage. Nonetheless, several of the aircraft were shot down, including two accidental kills by U.S. units, and more were damaged during landing accidents, as the Boomerang was prone to ground looping.

No. 4 Squadron and No. 5 Squadron flew Boomerangs in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands Campaign and Borneo Campaign, also in the close support role, with marked success. Flying in pairs (one to observe the ground, the other to observe the air around them), their tasks included bombing, strafing, close infantry support and artillery spotting. When attacking larger enemy formations Boomerangs often operated in conjunction with larger aircraft. In this role the Boomerang would get in close to confirm the identity of the target and mark it with a 20 lb (9 kg) smoke bomb with the "cooperating" aircraft delivering the major ordnance from a safer distance. The partnership between 5 Squadron Boomerangs and Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsair fighter bombers during the Bougainville Campaign was said to be particularly effective.

The other user of Boomerangs in New Guinea was No. 8 Communications Unit, which used the aircraft to assist with air sea rescue operations.