At 0937 on 19 February 1942, the Royal Australian Air Force received its
first warning that the Japanese were on their way to bomb an Australian target.
Wing Commander Sturt de Burgh Griffith, the station commander at RAAF Darwin,
too a message, relayed from the radio station at the Aboriginal mission on
Bathurst Island, that a large formation of aircraft was overhead.
The planes went on to bomb Darwin killing innocent civilians, women and
children. Others flew unopposed over Sydney and Melbourne, attacking Broome and
smashing Australian air units deployed in Malaya, Singapore and what was then
the Netherland East Indies (Indonesia). Why were these planes not shot down>
Based on unparalleled archival research in Australia and the United Kingdom,
'Wounded Eagle' completely rewrites the early war history of the RAAF. This
devastating expose shows how Australia was left defenceless by a clique of
conservative politicians, including former Prime Minister Robert Menzies, who
took decisions that left Australia without an air defence system in our greatest
hour of need.
Contents:
1. Scandal and Disgrace
2. An Australian Eagle
3. In the Shadow of Empire
4. A Local Flame Flickers
5. The Empire Triumphant
6. An Air Force Dismembered
7. Reaping the Whirlwind
8. State of Denial
Notes
Index
