Tindal, Archibald 'Archie'

Archibald Robert (Archie) Tindal

RAAF Wing Commander

Number unknown

Archie was born 18/1/1916 Eversly England. He enlisted 16/7/1934.

Wing Commander Archie Tindal RAAF Base Tindal may well be one of the few airfields ever

constructed that never heard the beat of aero engines at its  birth. In 1942 a decision was made to construct an airfield south of Darwin that could operate B24 Liberators against forward Japanese bases and assets in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Its siting near Katherine, some 320km south of Darwin, was ideal. This made it safer from attacks by Japanese aircraft, but not so remote as to be difficult to support.

The airfield was constructed by the American 43rd Engineer Regiment in April 1942 and was called Carsons Field. But by the time it was ready for its aircraft, the war in the Pacific had

changed as the Japanese were driven back towards their homeland.

Subsequently, no aircraft ever deployed there. After WWII the airfield was renamed Tindal after Wing Commander Archie Tindal (pictured above right), as a permanent reminder of his heroic actions during the initial raid by the Japanese on Darwin on February 19, 1942.

During the attack on the airfield, WGCDR Tindal manned a Lewis machine gun and opened up on the Japanese Zeroes. He continued the one-sided struggle for some time before finally being shot by a strafing fighter.

Photo: from the David Hopton collection shows a gun emplacement before a raid on the airfield.

David Hopton, one of his pilots has a slightly different story to this account.

"Early in February 42 Wing Commander Archie Tindal started digging a round hole 6 feet deep and that this served to tell us that the Japanese were coming. Andy said he was building frame to hold 2 Vickers gas operated machine guns. The hole was only 50 feet from our hangar.

Ironically in the first air raid on RAAF Darwin he was manning his post and received a fatal shot to his head, it was said from a Jap Zero. Date 19 th February 1942. HQ NW area.

Lonely the grave may be, but forgotten it is not. Here on the left is a photo of David Hopton at Adelaide River Cemetery 2006 - beside Wing Commander A. Tindal's grave. The photo on the right shows other members of the Squadron seeking out comrades who had fallen, 2006 The Spitfire Association Darwin reunion.

WGCDR Tindal's grave is located in the war cemetery at Adelaide River, approximately 110km south of Darwin. He was the first Air Force casualty on mainland Australia. Generally forgotten and ignored, the base remained quietly basking in the top end sun.

By Wikipedia, David Hopton and edited Steve McGregor

The Spitfire Association