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Fenton Field
Early in 1942 it was decided that is was necessary for a
runway be built in the vicinity of Brocks Creek, a small railway
siding 100 miles south of Darwin in the Pine Creek region.
Fenton was one of the many operational aerodromes in the Northern
Territory in a region known as the North West Area.
Fenton was first occupied by the 43rd Bombardment Group late
in 1942, flying B17 Fortresses. The 319th Squadron of the
90th Bombardment Group of the USAAF, took up residence in
February 1943 equipped with B24 Liberators. They carried out
special reconnaissance missions against the Japanese bases
in the Netherlands East Indies.
The 380th Bombardment Group USAAF received their Operations
Orders on April 14th 1943, this order called for the immediate
deployment to the Fifth Air Force in Australia. They would
come under the command of the RAAF and relieve the 319th Bombardment
Group based at Fenton by early May.
General Kenney assigned the B24 Liberators to the North West
Area, because of their long-range capability. The initial
missions that was assigned to the 380th was the strategic
bombardment of the entire western half of the South West Pacific
Area that comprised of the whole of Dutch East Indies that
was in range of these bombers.
It was the roll of the 133rd Heavy Anti
Aircraft Battery to protect them.
An estimated 5,000 personnel formed a huge military capital
at Fenton by the end of June 1943. Ranging from the supply
units, Anti Aircraft Defences, Radar units, Flight crews,
service squadrons, Signals and Medical teams. In just a couple
of months Fenton would become a real military city. The 380th
huge equipment apart from their numbers of aircrafts, workshops,
towers for spotting, canteens, mess huts and campsites, also
hundreds of vehicles, carriers for bombs and ammunitions,
all became an arsenal of massive proportions.
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