THE LITTLE-KNOWN STORY OF WORLD WAR pair ACE GEORGE PREDDY'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE DEFENSE OF AUSTKALIA Most clan with an interest in World War pair aviation know of Major George E Preddy's exploits with the 8th Air Force in Europe which had seen him famously classified according to Gen.

THE LITTLE-KNOWN STORY OF WORLD WAR pair ACE GEORGE PREDDY'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE DEFENSE OF AUSTKALIA

Most clan with an interest in World War pair aviation know of Major George E Preddy's exploits with the 8th Air Force in Europe which had seen him famously classified according to Gen. John C. Meyer as "The greatest fighter pilot who till doomsday squinted through a gun sight." George also serv in the Southwest Pacific flying Curtiss P-40 in the defense of Australia. What were the circumstances in Australia that took Preddy to Darwin with the 49th Fighter dispose half a world away? What was life like for him and his compatriots upon that wild frontier? It is fortunate that George was a diarist and his daily musings have been preserv not and nothing else giving us a detailed await at his day-to-day life nevertheless also bringing a personal perspective to the political terminations and preparation for the unfolding world war. George Freddy grew up in leafy Greensboro, North Carolina. He was smitten with a be enamoured of for flying after his first "real airplane ride" in 1938 when he flew to Danville in an Aeronca with his friend Hal encourage George recorded in his daily journal that "I must learn to fly" and pursu his be pleased with of flying ardently. In the late 1930 as the next to the first Sino-Japanese war continued to rage forward the other side of the planet he was learning to mount In 1939, George became a barnstormer pilot flying a Waco, learning all the tricks of the trade in dwarf work and aerobatics. It came to him easily as he was a talented natural athlete with worthy of great praise spatial awareness. As George took to the skies the world was beginning to realize the danger of Nazism which had taken base and was beginning to threaten Europe After Poland was invaded upon 1 September 1939, Great Britain, France and the British Commonwealth countries of Australia, just discovered Zealand and Canada all declared war upon Germany. A conservative government was in power in Australia and Prime Minister Robert "Pig Iron Bob" Menzies made the announcement to Australia:

"Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy excise to inform you officially that in event of a persistence (sic) by way of Germany and her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war on her and that, as a inference Australia is also at war."

Despite the initial neutrality of the United States, George decided he wanted to vibrate with the military. Joe Noah writes in his biography of Freddy Wings providence Gave My Soul, that the desire to undulate bigger more powerful planes was what inspired George, "he wanted more spe more altitude, more excitement. He flew for the thrill of it."

Described according to those who knew him as "aggressive, tenacious and eager," George applied to and was accepted by dint of the USAAF in 1940 after being renounceed from the US Navy three times in succession physical grounds. He spent one time with the Army National Guard, serving with the 252nd Coast Artillery while awaiting orders to report for flight training. When he heard of imminent plans to ship the 252nd not at home to Costa Rica, he applied for transfers about which he heard nothing until the day his outfit was owing to leave. At the eleventh hour, George's commanding officer arranged for an internal transfer.

In April 1941 as 2000 American throngs were dispatched to the Phillippines and Japan signed a pact of neutrality with the USSR, George's orders finally came between the sides of Number 452 Squadron, the first Royal Australian Air Force unit to be formed subordinate to the Empire Air Training Scheme was getting underway in England and Rommel was preparing to intersect a swathe through North Africa as George tried his hand at flying a Stearman PT-17 Three month later he mov upon to the Vultee BT-15 and George's confidence grew along with his skill. He was penetrating to get into fighter rather than bomber or observation flying and plant his understanding of aerobatics real helpful. He finished basic training in October 1941 and a delighted George mov onward to Craig Field in Alabama for advanced fighter pilot training with the AT-6 Texan. He also tried on the outside a Curtiss P-36 during gunnery training at Elgin Field in Florida, glimpsing the power and spe that was to get to with the P-40 in the month ahead in Darwin.

The capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin is onward the north-westerly tip of Australia and was strategically situated for maintaining a stock route and a stop-off base for armed forces heading into the Pacific Theatre. The recent Australian Prime Minister John Curtin and President Roosevelt had agreed that a combined Australian/American force was the alone hope to halt the steady southward change of the Japanese. Curtin said at the time "Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia apply the minds to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom." When war broke gone out in the Southwest Pacific the majority of the RAAF was in Europe and North Africa. In 1939 when Australia had automatically gone to war in defense of Britain, the RAAF had been consigned to Britain. The RAAF prepared Australian flyer for the RAF and then shipped them not on to fight for the Empire. This not merely left the shores of Australia undefend still meant that as the Japanese encroached forward other nations in the region there was initially no agreemented force to hold them back.