The Cac Boomerang

"The author examines this unique aircraft and its origins, its service and the men who flew it... The in-depth research is complemented by a wealth of photographic material... along with a number of superb profiles, which combine to present an all round excellent volume on this somewhat overlooked stop gap fighter." -- Classic Wings
The CAC Boomerang has a unique place in Australian aviation history, being the nation's only home designed and produced fighter.
The design was born in dark days at the start of the Pacific War when the RAAF possessed not a single modern fighter and the southwards onslaught of Japanese forces seemed unstoppable. The single seat Boomerang owed its origins to the Wirraway two seat general purpose aircraft produced by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Melbourne. Because of existing Wirraway production, a Boomerang prototype flew less than six months after the design was conceived - a remarkable achievement.
Lacking the performance of contemporaries such as America's P-39 and P-40 and Japan's Zero, the Boomerang's subsequent history is chequered. It served with three RAAF home defence squadrons in the fighter interceptor role but had only fleeting, unsuccessful, contact with enemy aircraft. However, the Boomerang found its true niche as an army cooperation aircraft, and the type gave very useful service with Nos. 4 and 5 Squadrons in New Guinea and Bougainville.
With hindsight the Boomerang provided an insurance policy if other fighters could not be obtained from the US and Britain. In that role it was successful, and its production maintained a skilled wartime workforce at the CAC factory.
This is the first stand-alone history of the Boomerang. The author Don Williams examines this unique aircraft and its origins, service and the men that flew it.

Don Williams grew up absorbing the host of television programs, books and movies about the titanic World War Two aerial battles in Europe's skies that pervaded Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. His childhood bedroom was filled with models of Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmidts and Stukas.
Later in life, Don sought to better understand the role of Royal Australian Air Force in the Pacific War. He was surprised and disappointed to find that no book telling the complete story of Australia's own wartime emergency fighter, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Boomerang, had been published.
Don decided to fill this gap by writing a book dedicated to the Boomerang. He is also a keen amateur photographer and is pleased that some of his photographs are included in the book.
Sound research and writing were foundations of Don's career as a policy analyst and these skills were further honed when he completed a mature age PhD. He also researched and published an article that identified the Royal Air Force squadron responsible for the death of Nazi Germany's Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, the most senior German officer killed by enemy fire in World War Two.