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The six members of the unit who completed training were sent to Darwin. They set up two intercept radios (Kingsley AR7's on the top floor of the "Camera
Obscura" building at the RAAF Darwin airfield. They worked in continuous 4-hour shifts intercepting Japanese naval "point to point" and "aircraft to
49:
established under
Macarthur and comprised 7 RAAF, 1 AMF and 4 United States Army personnel in No. 1 Wireless Unit at Townsville. Flight Lieutenant Blakely was the first Commanding Officer. He was assisted by Captain H. Brown, US Army, and four US Air Force sergeants who were experienced in Sigint
194:
Then on 7 March 1942, a top secret small RAAF Intercept
Station was set up in 2 houses at Pimlico in Townsville under Wing Commander Booth. The two houses backed on to each other, one being at 21 Sycamore Street, Pimlico and the other being at 24 French Street, Pimlico. Operators based in these
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Their intercepts were sent to the navy cryptology section in
Melbourne via RAAF Signals Darwin. They enciphered their messages to Melbourne in a secret cipher before passing them over to the RAAF Signals personnel. This ensured that their intercepts of Japanese
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In the meantime, the RAAF began to establish their own small administrative and intelligence group in
Melbourne. H. Roy Booth was in charge of this new group. Their task was to start to learn how to process the intercept information sent from Darwin.
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Unfortunately no precautions were taken at Darwin on that fateful day. 188 carrier-based aircraft attacked Darwin in the first raid followed by 54 land based bombers in the second raid. There were 243 killed and about 350 injured on this tragic day.
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The use of the civilian radios proved totally unsuccessful as the Kana operators could only use the radio receivers when not being used by the civil air radio service. This meant it was impossible to keep a constant watch on
Japanese activities.
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in July 1941. They were the first personnel in No. 1 Wireless Unit which was to be involved in the interception of
Japanese Naval and military traffic. They were all qualified radio operators and extremely proficient in international Morse code.
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210:, Owi & Biak in 1944 (they were the only Australians on Biak). The WU could give up to 3 hours warning of Japanese air raids. Bleakley then went with No 5 WU to the Philippines in 1945.
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The RAAF Kana operators in Darwin intercepted many important transmissions leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Darwin intercept group was reduced to four due to illness.
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in the
Southern Celebes and between aircraft and possible aircraft carriers. The abnormal traffic was passed on to Group Captain Scherger, the Commanding Officer of RAAF Darwin.
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piloted by Jimmy Wood. They landed at Broome in
Western Australia about 30 minutes after a very large Japanese bombing raid on the town in which at least 70 people were killed.
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Orders were sent from
Melbourne for the four healthy Kana operators in Darwin to disperse to civilian radio stations across the northern parts of Australia as follows:-.
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The crew and passengers abandoned the Rapide, which trundled along the runway on fire. It stopped at the end of the runway where it burnt itself out. A group of nine "
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The first seven RAAF personnel to be trained as part of No. 1 Wireless Unit in a "special intelligence" course were trained at Victoria Barracks in
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houses would intercept Japanese wireless signals and break the Japanese KANA code. Radio equipment was installed in No. 24 French Street.
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in Ascot, Brisbane. Under some American pressure on the RAAF No 1 WU accompanied the American forces, going to Port Moresby in 1943, and
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Alf Towers was slightly luckier than Snow Bradshaw. He had departed Wyndham airfield just prior to the Japanese air raid in a
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code or encoded messages were not apparent to other military personnel to protect the secrecy of their intercept operation.
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On 25 April 1942 this small RAAF Unit was given its new name of No. 1 Wireless Unit and then became part of General
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This name which was the formalised name given to the small RAAF Intercept Station operating in two
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The early morning shift detected abnormal traffic on the morning of 19 February 1942 from
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Military units and formations of the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II
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156:. The Rapide was attacked while landing at Wyndham airfield by a flight of
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during the first enemy air raid on the town on 3 March 1942.
202:'s new joint American-Australian Sigint organisation called
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at 21 Sycamore Street and 24 French Street in the suburb of
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ground" traffic from Japanese at the following locations:-
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and who had escaped to Australia from the Philippines.
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42:established by Wing Commander Booth in March 1942.
632:Aircraft Stores Compatibility Engineering Squadron
344:List of Royal Australian Air Force air marshals
902:Royal Australian Air Force Memorial, Canberra
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27:. The Unit was established on 25 April 1942.
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917:Western Australian Aviation Heritage Museum
962:Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service
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45:1 Wireless unit became part of the larger
334:Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force
243:by Jack Bleakley (AGPS Canberra, 1991)
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622:Aircraft Research and Development Unit
605:Integrated Mission Support Directorate
314:Air and Space Interoperability Council
144:"Clarrie" Hermes – Groote Eyelandt, NT
627:Aircraft Systems Engineering Squadron
141:G. "Taff" Davis – Groote Eyelandt, NT
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1017:Category: Royal Australian Air Force
942:Australian First Tactical Air Force
814:Defence Establishment Orchard Hills
637:RAAF Institute of Aviation Medicine
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1046:Organisations based in Queensland
983:Royal Australian Air Force Ensign
375:Recipients of the Air Force Medal
1041:History of Australia (1901–1945)
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996:Roulettes Aerobatic Display Team
617:Test and Development Directorate
613:Tactics and Training Directorate
349:Warrant Officer of the Air Force
152:in Western Australia on board a
680:Combat Survival Training School
609:Information Warfare Directorate
148:Snow Bradshaw was evacuated to
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967:Volunteer Air Observers Corps
182:Pimlico and the South Pacific
135:"Snow" Bradshaw – Wyndham, WA
665:Basic Flying Training School
644:Air Force Ranges Directorate
583:No. 396 Combat Support Wing
443:Australian Air Force Cadets
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947:RAAF Overseas Headquarters
912:RAAF Wagga Heritage Centre
291:Royal Australian Air Force
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952:RAAF University Squadrons
695:Officers' Training School
324:Deputy Chief of Air Force
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17:No. 1 Wireless Unit RAAF
927:Queens Gardens, Brisbane
423:Ground Support Squadrons
300:Australian Defence Force
448:Airfield Defence Guards
329:Defence Space Commander
138:Alf Towers – Broome, WA
226:Bleakley page 156, 159
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937:Operation Pig Bristle
829:RAAF Base Williamtown
685:Reserve Training Wing
676:Ground Training Wing
670:Central Flying School
403:Defence Space Command
190:Map of Pimlico houses
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804:RAAF Base Townsville
587:Health Services Wing
398:Units and Formations
255:Peter DUNN's website
21:signals intelligence
922:Avro Anson Memorial
844:RAAF Base Edinburgh
834:RAAF Base East Sale
809:RAAF Base Glenbrook
453:Air Traffic Control
154:De Havilland Rapide
32:back-to-back houses
957:RAAF Area Commands
819:RAAF Base Richmond
794:RAAF Base Amberley
789:Al Minhad Air Base
723:Operation Resolute
661:Air Training Wing
319:Chief of Air Force
208:Lae Nadzab Airport
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19:was an Australian
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849:RAAF Base Woomera
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438:Air Force Reserve
380:List of personnel
339:Air Chief Marshal
241:The Eavesdroppers
236:The Eavesdroppers
200:Douglas MacArthur
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879:RAAF Base Tindal
874:RAAF Base Darwin
869:RAAF Base Pearce
784:RMAF Butterworth
744:List of aircraft
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839:RAAF Williams
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799:RAAF Scherger
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766:installations
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749:VIP aircraft
690:RAAF College
535:Surveillance
512:Air Mobility
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172:Lockheed 10A
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25:World War II
16:
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932:Tiger Force
907:RAAF Museum
859:RAAF Gingin
854:RAAF Curtin
579:No. 95 Wing
560:No. 92 Wing
555:No. 44 Wing
550:No. 42 Wing
545:No. 41 Wing
525:No. 86 Wing
520:No. 84 Wing
502:No. 82 Wing
497:No. 81 Wing
492:No. 78 Wing
1030:Categories
716:operations
484:Air Combat
433:Musterings
307:leadership
214:References
40:Townsville
991:newspaper
989:Air Force
737:equipment
418:Squadrons
390:structure
358:personnel
60:Melbourne
771:airbases
756:Weaponry
654:Training
81:Marianas
23:unit of
976:culture
889:history
598:Warfare
572:Support
465:Command
428:Flights
150:Wyndham
122:Kendari
54:History
36:Pimlico
769:&
570:Combat
469:groups
408:Groups
247:
77:Saipan
475:wings
413:Wings
365:Ranks
165:Betty
86:Tokyo
72:Palau
245:ISBN
103:Kana
90:Truk
596:Air
472:and
463:Air
38:in
1032::
283:e
276:t
269:v
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239:(
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92:(
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79:(
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