The CAC Boomerang : Australia's own WWII Fighter

Williams, Don

Avonmore Books（2024/11発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 104 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780975642320
• DDC分類 623.7464

Full Description

The CAC Boomerang has a unique place in Australian aviation history, being the nation's only home designed and produced fighter.
The design was born in dark days at the start of the Pacific War when the RAAF possessed not a single modern fighter and the southwards onslaught of Japanese forces seemed unstoppable. The single seat Boomerang owed its origins to the Wirraway two seat general purpose aircraft produced by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Melbourne. Because of existing Wirraway production, a Boomerang prototype flew less than six months after the design was conceived - a remarkable achievement.
Lacking the performance of contemporaries such as America's P-39 and P-40 and Japan's Zero, the Boomerang's subsequent history is chequered. It served with three RAAF home defence squadrons in the fighter interceptor role but had only fleeting, unsuccessful, contact with enemy aircraft. However, the Boomerang found its true niche as an army cooperation aircraft, and the type gave very useful service with Nos. 4 and 5 Squadrons in New Guinea and Bougainville.
With hindsight the Boomerang provided an insurance policy if other fighters could not be obtained from the US and Britain. In that role it was successful, and its production maintained a skilled wartime workforce at the CAC factory.
This is the first stand-alone history of the Boomerang. The author Don Williams examines this unique aircraft and its origins, service and the men that flew it.

Contents

Abbreviations
& Glossary

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Maps

Chapter 1 -
Strategic Leadership of Australia's Air War in WWII

Chapter 2 - Why
Australia Needed an Emergency Fighter in WWII

Chapter 3 - A
Battle Won: Approval to Produce an Australian Interceptor Fighter

Chapter 4 - Tests
and Further Orders

Chapter 5 - The
Production Battle: Early Victories and Later Losses

Chapter 6 - The
CAC Boomerang Described

Chapter 7 - The
Boomerang Goes to War: RAAF Service

Chapter 8 - No. 4
Squadron

Chapter 9 - No. 5
Squadron and Other Units

Chapter 10 -
Prominent Boomerang Pilots

Chapter 11 -
Assessing the Boomerang

Appendix: Summary
of Boomerang Air Combat Engagements

Sources

Index of Names