No. 9 Operational Group RAAF
No. 9 Operational Group was a major Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) formation providing fighter, ground-attack and anti-shipping support to the Allies in the South West Pacific theatre during World War II. Established in September 1942, it acted as a mobile striking force independent of the RAAF's static area commands. As the war in the Pacific progressed, No. 9 Operational Group itself developed into an area command called Northern Command, responsible for garrisoning New Guinea.
Personnel of No. 30 Squadron, part of No. 73 Wing, No. 9 Operational Group, with a Beaufighter in New Guinea, 1943
Air Commodore Hewitt, right, with Major General Whitehead, New Guinea, 1943
Area commands were the major operational and administrative formations of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) between 1940 and 1954. Established in response to the outbreak of World War II, they underpinned the Air Force's geographically based command-and-control system for the duration of the conflict and into the early years of the Cold War, until being superseded by a functional control system made up of Home, Training, and Maintenance Commands.
Air Vice-Marshal Goble, who proposed a functional command system for the RAAF in 1940
Air Chief Marshal Burnett (right), who instituted the RAAF's area command system in 1940–41, with Air Vice-Marshals Jones (left) and Bostock (centre), May 1942
Air Marshal Hardman, who instituted the RAAF's functional command system
RAAF higher organisation as at August 1945
