No. 5 Fighter Sector RAAF (5FS) was a

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

unit formed at

Sandfly Gully Sandfly (or sand fly) is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking dipteran (fly) encountered in sandy areas. In the United States, ''sandfly'' may refer to certain horse flies that are also known as "greenhe ...

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

, on 25 February 1942. It was responsible for

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

control and coordination in the Darwin region. 5FS plotted and relayed the positions of enemy aircraft to put Allied fighters in an optimum position for interception, in cooperation with RDF and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

defences. It was manned twenty-four hours a day. Initially set up in tents near Sandfly Gully, south of the RAAF Darwin runway in early 1942, 5FS's position was deemed to be too exposed and the unit relocated to Berrimah, Northern Territory, near No. 119 Australian General Hospital, where an operations room had been constructed. 5FS was renamed No. 105 Fighter Sector on 24 October 1943, and again to No. 105 Fighter Control Unit (105FCU) on 7 March 1944. The Fighter Sector complex encompassed 87 buildings by the end of World War II. 105FCU was disbanded at Darwin on 21 January 1945. It was reformed as Air Defence Headquarters (Darwin) on 21 January 1945, which disbanded on 18 April 1946.

Commanding officers

* Wing Commander H.W. Miller – 25 February 1942 * Squadron Leader T. Primrose

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

– 27 April 1942 *Squadron Leader L.W. Law – 5 June 1942 *

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

F.H. Waters – 6 June 1942 *Squadron Leader T. Primrose AFC – 15 August 1942 *Squadron Leader C.E. Woodman – 19 May 1943 *Squadron Leader P. Jeffrey DSO, DFC – 3 September 1943 *Squadron Leader C.E. Woodman – 9 September 1943 *Squadron Leader J.D. Galvin – 14 November 1943 *Wing Commander R.H. Cox AFC – 15 June 1944 *Squadron Leader C.C. Loxton – 14 December 1944 *

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

B.R. Walker – 21 January 1945 *Squadron Leader B.L. Bracegirdle – 27 October 1945 *Wing Commander R.F. Wiley – 1 February 1946

References

Northern Territory Heritage ListingRadarReturns website
{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 5 Fighter Sector Raaf 5 Military units and formations established in 1942 1942 establishments in Australia Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1945 disestablishments in Australia