- ex_RAAF_Elecfitter - 07.02.2008
I wonder if that books section on barracks mentions the strafing damage. I havent been to that side of RAAF Darwin since 1996, but back then the barracks was still being used for temporary or deployed accomodation, TDY the yanks call it :lol: There used to be a little plaque mounted in the rafters with some airmans names on them who were present in the raid, I wonder if that is still there as they were talking about moving the plaque onto an official stand outside if the barracks were eventually demolished. Does the book have any pics of the barracks and AAA instalations?
- Neil Lowe - 07.02.2008
DioMac Wrote:Neil, looking great.
I just bought a book from the WA Maritime Musuem entitled "Wrecks in Darwin Waters"
It deals fairly heavily with the locations of ships during the japanese attack and thier subsequent salvage. I just noticed a section detailing a barracks and AAA defences as well as 4" and 9.2" naval guns covering the harbour and the anti submarine boom.
If need be I can scan it into PDF format and mail it to you?
Let me know
Thanx, any info you can provide would be great.
I'm going to look into maybe seeing if I can find suitable objects that can be cloned and made to look like components of an anti-sub boom I can place across the harbour
While I'm here, How elevated from sea level was the area that East Point Battery was located?
Cheers, Neil
- DioMac - 07.02.2008
Neil, This is what I found, I'll read through it tonight and mark out bits to scan for you at work tommorrow. I'll get em posted by 5:30PM WA time.
WWII Boom Net
Near Darwin's East point gun turrets one end of the famous boom net was anchored. This vast construction of floats, nets and weights was constructed to prevent submarines entering Darwin's harbour during WWII. Established in late 1939, The net ran from from Dudley point to Mandorah, an overall length of 6.8kms - The longest anti submarine net in the world"
The opening in the defence was patrolled by a series of small navy corvettes. Mike Foleys 'History of the Cox Peninsula' describes two 4" guns from HMAS Adelaide being installed on the Western side of the harbour. Foley also relates the story of a military camp at West Point where"
'Anti aircraft guns, Machine gun posts, barbed wire entaglement, search light battery, blast shelters and observation towers were all installed.'
There is also mention of 9.2" guns being installed towards the end of the war at East Point
I'll see what more I can find
Edit
no doubt you have seen this, It details the harbour defences with pictures....
http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/history/general/darwin1.html
Personally I love creating detailed airfields, AAA defences etc...If you need a hand let me know :wink:
- Ajay - 07.02.2008
Hers a pic of the East Point 'Cliffs' Neil
- Neil Lowe - 07.02.2008
Quote:an overall length of 6.8kms - The longest anti submarine net in the world
Cool, longest sub-net in the world. 8) I look forward to having a gander through the info, Thx Dio.
Quote:Hers a pic of the East Point 'Cliffs' Neil
Thanx Ajay, Ah, I see, great pic
I'm not too far off with my guestimate
I've tried as much as possible to get the cliffs in, but unfortunately the game has a limit on the way altitude changes are depicted close to the waters edge.
Someone mentioned earlier that it would be good to have an island base for the blue's to take off from. After further thought I think that this will be a good idea. What I'll do is have one map without and one map with the fictional island in the far northwestern corner of the map. What do ya think? :?:
Thanx again,
Cheers, Neil
- ex_RAAF_Elecfitter - 07.02.2008
A fictional island is a far better situation than an off map base. That way we can still play as the Japs and land, I hate off map base games, just flying from and into oblivion
It also lets us use bombers based at the island instead of an off map bomber force or worse just a carrier strike force, so I say Yeah, Id love to see a fictional Jap controlled island tucked away at the top. Didnt there used to be rumours (which were never substantiated) that the Japs had a desert strip somewhere in WA?
- Neil Lowe - 07.02.2008
Quote:Didnt there used to be rumours (which were never substantiated) that the Japs had a desert strip somewhere in WA?
This is the one I'd heard about, but was East of Darwin at Blue Mud bay.
http://www.ozatwar.com/japsland/bluemudbay.htm
Cheers, Neil
- DioMac - 08.02.2008
Sorry mate, I could'nt get the info scanned. Blame it on the two teleconferences and fire extinguisher training :? . Ah well its Friday now
About the Japanese base. My uncle is a corporal in the army, and lives in Wydham, WA near the border. He has done a fair bit of tracking / camping / hiking around that area ater hearing of Japanese activity during the war from old tribal indigenous people. Sure enough he found certain markings carved into cliffs and suspicious rock arrangements that pointed to an area of caves that are open to the sea. Thoughts of it being booby trapped however have kept him from going in further..... And the local people even reported seeing a Japanese landing party in the area. There are also reports of "mechanical sounds" off the coast... evidently a sub recharging its batteries on the surface at night....My Grandma even survived being strafed and bombed by a Japanese float plane when the Japanese sunk the MV Koolama.
hock:
The top end of WA and the NT are just so vast and unseen by most people that it is likely the Japanese had more to do with the area than is often thought.
- Neil Lowe - 08.02.2008
DioMac Wrote:Sorry mate, I could'nt get the info scanned. Blame it on the two teleconferences and fire extinguisher training :? . Ah well its Friday now
..
The top end of WA and the NT are just so vast and unseen by most people that it is likely the Japanese had more to do with the area than is often thought.
No probs, the best laid plans and all that eh.....lol
Yep, 'tis a big vast area that's for sure.
Thanx again,
Cheers, Neil
- Ajay - 08.02.2008
Any of you guys remember the tower that used to be at East Point reserve? The one i marked on the google earth pic earlier ?
- CrazySchmidt - 08.02.2008
Man would I love to give this one a go.
Looking very good mate, excellent in fact!!.
CS.
- Ajay - 20.02.2008
Just a quick bump back to page one
- Neil Lowe - 20.02.2008
Lol, Thx Ajay
Progress is being made, mostly on the little things.
Sattlers airstrip is in (looking for period photos of the airstrip seems to be a bit of a task), as is the road and rail links. The Fictional enemy island base is in also. Now there's lots of little things to do, mostly object placement/tex adjustment. Ingame map has been re-drawn (again) and place names applied.
I'm currently running on half my system memory at the moment as one of my 1G sticks decided to give up the ghost :roll: Bloody computers, grrrr!!. :lol:
I'll post some more pics soon.
Cheers, Neil
- Ajay - 21.02.2008
Tell me about it.I just had 4 days off stuffing around because i installed a zalman fan and dislodged the cpu,gawd what an idiot.Love pcs ... :?
I looked for some stuff on Sattler for a few hours but as you said ,info or pics are few and far between .If i find anything re the rail or other stuff i will drop a post.
cheers
- CrazySchmidt - 29.02.2008
How's this going?