Editing Royal Australian Air Force (section)

====Europe and the Mediterranean====
In September 1939, the [[Air Board (Australia)|Australian Air Board]] directly controlled the Air Force via [[RAAF Station Laverton]], [[RAAF Base Richmond|RAAF Station Richmond]], [[RAAF Base Pearce|RAAF Station Pearce]], [[No. 1 Flying Training School RAAF]] at Point Cook, [[RAAF Base Rathmines|RAAF Station Rathmines]] and five smaller units.<ref>{{cite web |author=Dr. Leo Niehorster |url=http://niehorster.org/017_britain/39_raf/RAAF/_raaf.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810172949/http://www.niehorster.org/017_britain/39_raf/RAAF/_raaf.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 August 2015 |title=Royal Australian Air Force, 03.09.1939 |publisher=Orbat.com |access-date=28 April 2013 }}</ref>

In 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War, Australia joined the [[Australia and the Empire Air Training Scheme|Empire Air Training Scheme]], under which flight crews received basic training in Australia before travelling to Canada for advanced training. A total of 17 RAAF bomber, fighter, reconnaissance and other squadrons served initially in Britain and with the [[Desert Air Force]] located in North Africa and the [[Mediterranean]]. Thousands of Australians also served with other Commonwealth air forces in Europe during the Second World War.<ref name=Barnes3/> About nine percent of the personnel who served under British RAF commands in Europe and the Mediterranean were RAAF personnel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/raaf/explore.html|title=Explore: 'The Angry Sky'|publisher=[[Department of Veterans' Affairs]]|access-date=24 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711010358/http://ww2australia.gov.au/raaf/explore.html|archive-date=11 July 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

With British manufacturing targeted by the German [[Luftwaffe]], in 1941 the Australian government created the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP; later known as the [[Government Aircraft Factories]]) to supply Commonwealth air forces,<ref>Dennis et al. 2008, p. 277.</ref> and the RAAF was eventually provided with large numbers of locally built versions of British designs such as the [[Bristol Beaufort|DAP Beaufort]] [[torpedo bomber]], [[Bristol Beaufighter|Beaufighters]] and [[De Havilland Mosquito|Mosquitos]], as well as other types such as [[CAC Wirraway|Wirraways]], [[CAC Boomerang|Boomerangs]], and [[North American P-51 Mustang|Mustangs]].<ref name=Barnes3>Barnes 2000, p. 3.</ref>

In the [[European theatre of World War II|European theatre]] of the war, RAAF personnel were especially notable in [[RAF Bomber Command]]: although they represented just two percent of all Australian enlistments during the war, they accounted for almost twenty percent of those killed in action. [[No. 460 Squadron RAAF]], mostly flying [[Avro Lancaster]]s from 1942, had an official establishment of about 200 aircrew and yet had 1,018 combat deaths of which about half were Australian.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barnes |first=Norman |title=The RAAF and the Flying Squadrons |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=2000 |isbn=1-86508-130-2 |location=St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia |pages=299}}</ref> The squadron was therefore effectively wiped out five times over.<ref>Stephens 2006, p. 96.</ref> Total RAAF casualties in Europe were 5,488 killed or missing.<ref name=Barnes3/>

[[File:Kittyhawk IA RAAF.jpg|thumb|[[Curtiss P-40 Warhawk|Curtiss Kittyhawk]] Mk IA of 75 Squadron RAAF, which F/O Geoff Atherton flew over New Guinea in August 1942]]