Marking 80 years since the largest single attack mounted by a foreign power on Australian soil, the bombing of Darwin Ceremony, 2022 features a reenactment of that day. Joining the reenactment, a Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A/B Hornet from No. 75 squadron based at RAAF Base Tindal conducted a fly-past over Darwin. On February 19, 1942, 242 Japanese fighters and bombers attacked Darwin in two separate raids. Attacking the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields, they attempted to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II. Bombs rained down on the town, on nearby airfields and ships in the port, killing more than 230 allied service personnel and civilians, and wounding more than 300 people. More bombs were dropped on Darwin in this attack than on Pearl Harbour in Japan’s surprise military strike against the US just six weeks earlier. 0:00 Bombing of Darwin Day Reenactment 1:10 The raid starts 4:15 The Raid ends THE RAID The four Japanese aircraft carriers launched 188 aircraft on the morning of 19 February. The main objective of their crews was attacking ships and port facilities in Darwin Harbour. This wave was led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who had also commanded the first wave of attackers during the raid on Pearl Harbor. On their way to Darwin, Zeros shot down a US Navy PBY Catalina and strafed a USAAF C-47 Skytrain on the ground, near Melville Island. At 9.35 am Father McGrath of the Sacred Heart mission on Bathurst Island, who was also an Australian coastwatcher, sent a message using a pedal radio to the Amalgamated Wireless Postal Radio Station at Darwin that a large number of aircraft were flying overhead and proceeding southward. The message was then relayed to the Royal Australian Air Force Operations at 9.37 am. No general alarm was given until about 10 am as the RAAF officers there wrongly judged that the aircraft which had been sighted were ten USAAF P-40s, which were returning to Darwin at the time after reports of bad weather forced them to abort a flight to Java via Kupang, West Timor. As a result, the air raid sirens at Darwin were not sounded before the raid. Flying escort in a Zero fighter, Petty Officer Yoshikazu Nagahama was separated from his squadron while he was attacking the PBY flying boat and arrived over the city alone ahead of the strike force, which was making a turn to attack from the south. He engaged five US Army Air Force P-40 Warhawk fighters and single-handedly shot down four of them. The Japanese raiders began to arrive over Darwin at 9:58 am. HMAS Gunbar was the first ship to be attacked, being strafed by several Zero fighters. At about this time, the town's air raid sirens were belatedly sounded. The Japanese bomb ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3NM7dsVtw

Really interesting sculpture at Casuarina Square in Darwin. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ggfEP-_sZg