Australia’s War Diary

50 Years Ago …

August 1 – New Guinea. No 20 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron RAAF is formed at Port Moresby under the command of W/Cdr Bill “Hoot” Gibson DFC, formerly of 10 Squadron in the UK. On the 14th it will obtain six of the RAAF’s seven new Catalinas from 11 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight. 11 Squadron will carry on with tour short ‘C’ Class flying boats requisitioned from Qantas. These have been modified by the addition of gun mountings plus long range fuel and oil tanks.

Eastern Front. First operational use of Soviet “parasite” aircraft when l-16SPB fighter bombers are released from under the wings of TB-3 heavy bombers for a successful dive bombing attack on Constanza, Romania.

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