No. 52 Operational Base Unit RAAF

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Brief History

The first entry in No. 52 Operaloonalll.h<' Umt I h~tory R<'COrd was nMdc on 2 Ma) 1943. At 0945 hours, a )clio" aor raod warrung w~ received at Darwin, whoch wa> follo\\'t>d b) ,, r<"<l warmng at 1009 hours. Just as all personnel had reached theor tren(hc-,, 20 Japanl'l.(' bombers raJdcd the aerodrome. Little dam.1ge wa, c,lu'><."<l.md th~ rum'·'l' and ,,cinity were serviceable by 1230 hour. On 20 June 1943 an ;ur r.ud al~rt w.b &"'en at 1031 hours and the all·<lear given at 1110 hou.-.-28 bomb> wer~ droppc.-d on RAAF Base Darwin, causing little damagl.' to buoldlng~ .1nd no perwnnel casualties. Seven unexplodt'd bombs were di;,covert-d and deloused by the bomb disposal squad. A direct hit w.os mad,• on nne building. which was almost completely demnli~hed one case of beer ~urvivcd undamagt>d. The Unit'• pcr~nnnd had .1n enJoyable t>OC•••I life woth plenty of sport including boxing, cricket, bingo, bollia I'll> .ond h~hing. On one occasion an 8-foot carpet snake wns found in the Comm.mding Officer's office. The snake was killed and >kinned by Sergeant j.om<'l>, who on.>dc a bell. The Unit's fishing adventures were the most outst.onding- % lbs of fish were caught on 20 July 1'143-.ond 'commercial' opemtions eventuated. On 19 Augu•t 1943, the first haul t>f 400 lbs uf fi>h was caught, followt'd by ,,,td>l'> of 700. 1500 and II 00 lbl. The fish were djstrobutt'd nnoong other uno h . On I August 1944 the Unot was disbandc'\1 and was rcfom>ed as RAAF Station Darwin

Unit Personnel

• Stanley Reginald Nail 14 Mar 1943 - 18 Aug 1944

Notes

Content has come from Units of the Royal Australian Air Force - A Concise History - Volume 1 Bases, Supporting Organisations - Australian Government Publishing Service - 1995 page 43