No. 18 Radar Station RAAF was a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) radar station formed at

Richmond, New South Wales Richmond is a town in New South Wales, in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury. It is located 19 metres above sea level on the alluvial Hawkesbury River flats, at the foot of the Blue Mountains on the Cumberland Plain. It is abou ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 1 April 1942. The radar was a truck mounted AW radar built by

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differe ...

. The radar moved to Saddle Back Mountain, near

Kiama, New South Wales Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants ...

and became operational on 20 April 1942. On the 20 July 1942, eight

Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve, as well as by the Chief of the Air Staff, who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service ov ...

(WAAAF) operators arrived and became the first RAAF radar unit to employ WAAAF operators. The radar station at Kiama was built to monitor enemy airborne threats during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The truck mounted AW radar was eventually replaced by a Mk V COL radar unit. During the night of 19 February 1943, WAAAF operator Jo Lehmann plotted Susumi Ito's plane as it made a reconnaissance of the southern coast of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The report at the time was ignored by Fighter Sector HQ. No. 18 Radar Station RAAF was disbanded on 4 March 1946.

Commanding officers

* W.W. Weston (FlgOff) - 1 April 1942 * D.D. Kennedy (PltOff) - 10 May 1942 * C.T. Grout-Smith (PltOff) - 23 May 1942 * N.H. King (PltOff) - 2 October 1942 * E.L. Walther (PltOff) - 8 July 1943 * W.T.S. Middleton (PltOff) - 15 October 1943 * C.C. Zahara (PltOff) - 7 December 1943 * W.B. Ross (PltOff) - 17 March 1944 * R.H. Robinson (FlgOff) - 27 March 1943 * E.L. Walther (FlgOff) - 30 November 1944

References

No. 18 Radar Station Unit details

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