A Projective Investigation: Darwin’s Air Defences
Were the air defences of Darwin in 1942 adequate to repel an attack from the air?
Rationale
This investigation uses a ‘what would have happened if….’ approach to engage students in the historical facts of February 1942 to build student knowledge of the geographical and political position of Darwin in the Asia-Pacific Theatre of World War 2. It uses a fictitious problem based scenario to provide an opportunity for students to apply knowledge developed through the Defence of Darwin Experience and related internet based sources.
The scenario and subsequent questions require students to use knowledge meaningfully by engaging students in complex reasoning processes. These processes require students to decide on important information, organise and make decisions about aircraft capabilities. The classifying and comparison of Darwin based and attacking Japanese aircraft will bring students to the abstracting and inductive reasoning processes and develop conclusions about the effectiveness of the air defensive capabilities of Darwin in 1942.
The activity will also develop connectedness to the world outside the classroom through: decision making, problem solving, investigation and inquiry.
This investigation brings the possibility of working with students in an interdisciplinary mode by combining a number of discipline areas from the Australian Curriculum: History, Mathematics, Geography and Science. However, the investigations can be discipline based depending on the class and school modes of curriculum organisation.
Year levels
This investigation is suitable for year 9/10 students.
Investigation
This investigation requires students to do more than simply gather information, or to go to one resource. Investigating in this context will require students to engage in a number of related tasks. The investigative activity focuses student activity through ‘key questions’. Each of these key questions will allow students to understand aspects of the fictitious scenario.
Key Questions
· What combat aircraft were in Darwin on February 1942?
· What Japanese combat aircraft were flying toward Darwin?
· What aircraft characteristics were important in offensive capabilities of the aircraft?
What new knowledge?
The key questions point students to the acquiring and integrating of new knowledge of the operational aircraft that will form the basis of decisions about aircraft’s offensive and defensive capabilities. Students will need to be guided in the organising and decisions of relevance of this new knowledge. They will extend and refine knowledge as they examine, compare and analyse knowledge and information about the aircraft in a way that helps them make new connections, gain new insights, and clarify the importance of the types and characteristics of the offensive capabilities of the planes.
Focusing questions in the table below have been organised to represent the complex reasoning processes (CRP).
CRP Dimensions / FOCUSING QUESTIONSDECISION MAKING, generating and applying criteria to selected characteristics of to solve a problem. / What are the important offensive capabilities of the aircraft? What knowledge needs to be acquired?
What criteria are important for making decisions about the effectiveness of the defensive capabilities of the Darwin based planes or the incoming Japanese planes?
CLASSIFYING, the process of grouping things into definable categories on the basis of their attributes. / What characteristics must be classified?
What characteristics of the defensive and/or offensive capabilities are alike and can or should they be grouped together?
COMPARING, the process of identifying and articulating similarities and differences between the weapons: it is the process of describing how things are the same and different. / What types of planes were in Darwin and what characteristics were important to the defence of Darwin?
What types of Japanese planes attacked Darwin and what characteristics were important to the attack on Darwin?
What characteristics are needed to compare the different aircraft capabilities, what are the important criteria?
How are they the same? How are the different?
ABSTRACTING, identifying and articulating the underlying theme or general pattern of information. It is the process of finding and explaining general patterns in specific information and/or situations. / What is the theme or pattern evident in the Darwin based aircraft?
What is the theme or pattern evident in the offensive capabilities of Japanese aircraft?
INDUCTIVE REASONING, process of inferring unknown generalizations or principles from the analysis of information or observations. Stated more simply, it is the process of making general conclusions from specific information or observations. / What specific information has been collected? Where are the knowledge gaps? What other information might be needed?
What are the connections or patterns evident between the different aircraft capabilities?
What are the conclusions or predictions that can be made that are relevant to this fictitious scenario?
CONSTRUCTING SUPPORT, the process of building systems of support for assertions. / What is needed to support the conclusions about the Darwin based aircraft in repelling the incoming Japanese aircraft?
What specific evidence, facts or examples will need to be provided to support the argument?
Resources, pointers and hints
Aircraft in the sky over Darwin in February 1942
· Types, characteristics and positions for student consideration:
· Useful characteristics suggestions: range, top speed, ceiling (how high can they fly), power/weight ratio, rate of climb, flight range, pilot combat experience, number of planes in service, and the number of planes or could in the air.
· Using a map of Darwin that also shows the Tiwi Islands provides opportunities for students to plot predicted positions of the different aircraft.
Example: The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Wirraway
The air forces stationed in and near Darwin comprised No. 12 Squadron RAAF, which was equipped with CAC Wirraway advanced trainers (which had been pressed into service as fighters) and No. 13 Squadron which operated Lockheed Hudson light bombers.
No. 12 Squadron Wirraways at Darwin in January 1941(Source: Australian War Museum)
General Characteristics / Performance / ArmamentsCrew: 2
Length: 8.48 m
Wingspan: 13.11 m
Height: 2.66 m
Wing area: 23.76 m²
Empty weight: 1,810 kg
Max. takeoff weight: 2,991 kg
Engine: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engine, 450 kW / Maximum speed: 350 km/h
Cruise speed: 250 km/h
Range: 1,200 km
Service ceiling: 7,010 m
Rate of climb: 9.9 m/s / Guns: 2 × 7.62 mm Vickers Mk V machine guns synchronised to fire through the propeller and 1 × 7.62 mm Vickers GO machine gun on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit. Later versions had no Vickers Mk V guns, but had provision for 2 × 7.62 mm Browning AN-M2 machine guns mounted under the outer wing panels.
Resources
· Defence of Darwin Experience (http://www.defenceofdarwin.nt.gov.au/)
· The characteristics of the Japanese planes that attacked Darwin can be found on the video touch screen at the Bombing of Darwin display. For example: wing span, weight, maximum weight (take-off), maximum speed, power plant, flight range, ceiling, armament, and bomb loads. Characteristics such as: power/weight ratio, rate of climb, and manoeuvrability can be sourced from the internet. Comments about the Japanese pilot combat experience are evident in a number of display sections.
· The Australian and American aircraft characteristics will need to be sourced on the internet.
· Photographs of all aspects of the aircraft are available at the War Museum: http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/ . This is the search engine; you will need to type your query into the search field. For example: Lockheed Hudson gives you:
Lockheed Hudson aircraft in flight
Aircraft in the air (and could have been) over Darwin on February 1942
Wikipedia provides much of the basic information on aircraft characteristics, however there are many sites that can provide information about the planes, so are outlined below:
· Australian:
CAC Wirraway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Wirraway , http://www.airforce.gov.au/raafmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A20.htm
http://www.adf-serials.com/2a20-101.shtml provides the history of the plane pictured (A20-130) and all other Wirraways that were in World War 2 service.
Lockheed Hudson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Hudson http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/aircraft_colection/hudson/index.html
· American:
Curtiss P-40 KittyHawk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-40_Warhawk http://www.wwiivehicles.com/usa/aircraft/fighter/curtiss-p-40-c-warhawk.asp
Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk fighter aircraft (Source: Australian War Museum)
Consolidated PBY Catalina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_PBY_Catalina
· Japanese Aircraft Carrier Launched: Mitsubishi A6M 2, Model 21 'Zero'(Fighter), Aichi D3A1 'Val' (dive bomber), Nakajima B5N2 'Kate'(Torpedo Bomber), these may also be sourced from the internet.
Two Japanese Aichi D3A 'Val' (Source: Australian War Museum)
· Japanese land based: Mitsubishi G3M2 'Nell' (bomber), Mitsubishi G4M 1 'Betty'(bomber),
Mitsubishi G4M 1 'Betty' (Source: Australian War Museum)
Associated Activities of Interest: Acquiring, Integrating and Extending New knowledge
1. And another ‘What if’ aircraft the Supermarine Spitfire. Two Australian Spitfire squadrons had been flying in Great Britain since the middle of 1941. Squadrons 452 and 457 had been formed as Commonwealth squadrons operating within the Royal Air Force (RAF).
Supermarine Spitfire
General Characteristics / Performance / ArmamentsCrew: one pilot
Length: 9.12 m
Wingspan: 11.23 m
Empty weight:2,309 kg
Loaded weight: 3,000 kg
Max. takeoff weight: 3,071 kg
Engine: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 supercharged V12 engine, 1,096 kW
At 2,820 m / Maximum speed: 605 km/h
Combat radius: 760km
Service ceiling: 11,300 m
Rate of climb: 13.5 m/s
Power/mass: 0.36kW/kg / Guns: 8 × 0.303in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns
Bombs: 2 × 113 kg bombs
(From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire)
Considering these characteristics, would the presence of a number of Spitfires in the sky over Darwin have made any difference to the bombing?
2. Make your own board game: A very interesting combat board game that students could develop to match the planes and geography of the Darwin area can be found at: http://www.juniorgeneral.org/air/ww2dogfight.html
3. How do planes fly? Students may be interested in the aerodynamic forces and changes in motion of aircraft can be found at: http://phys23p.sl.psu.edu/phys_anim/mech/indexer_mech.html
4. Paper Planes: Students can test different plane designs to gain an appreciation of plane manoeuvrability. Download designs from: http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/.
5. How do the planes hit the target? The physics of bombing provides an interesting look at the relative motion of the bomb and the plane, as the bombs path in a curve to the target. So, if the pilot drops the bomb over the target, then it will miss, as it needs to be dropped before the target. The following links may prove an insight for students, especially the YouTube video of a science class modelling bomber physics.
The links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyaE6CEIfkQ http://wn.com/Physics_Bomber__Physics_with_Mr_Martinez
http://www.cosmolearning.com/videos/aircraft-dropping-a-bomb-on-target/
http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=166.0
And an interactive game from the National Museum of Australia ‘The Bombing of Darwin’, may be of interest.
http://www.nma.gov.au/interactives/ahm/darwin/darwin_v1.html
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM LINKS
This investigation brings the possibility of working with students in an interdisciplinary mode by combining a number of discipline areas from the Australian Curriculum: History, Mathematics, Geography and Science. However, the investigations can be discipline based depending on the class and school modes of curriculum organisation.
The following identifies aspect of the Australian Curriculum relevant to these investigations.
Science Inquiry Skills
SCIENCE
SUB-STRAND / DESCRIPTION YEAR 09/10Questioning and predicting / Formulate questions or hypotheses that can be investigated scientifically
Planning and conducting / Plan, select and use appropriate investigation methods, including field work and laboratory experimentation, to collect reliable data; assess risk and address ethical issues associated with these methods
Processing and analysing data and information / Analyse patterns and trends in data, including describing relationships between variables and identifying inconsistencies
Use knowledge of scientific concepts to draw conclusions that are consistent with evidence
Evaluating / Evaluate conclusions, including identifying sources of uncertainty and possible alternative explanations, and describe specific ways to improve the quality of the data
Critically analyse the validity of information in secondary sources and evaluate the approaches used to solve problems
Communicating / Communicate evidence-based arguments and use appropriate scientific conventions, and representations of scientific ideas and information for a particular purpose
Science provides an empirical way of answering interesting and important questions about physical and technological world.
Science as a Human Endeavour
Year 9/10
SUB-STRAND / DescriptorsNature and development of science / Advances in scientific understanding often rely on developments in technology and technological advances are often linked to scientific discoveries
Use and influence of science / People can use scientific knowledge to evaluate whether they should accept claims, explanations or predictions
Year 10 Content Descriptions
Physical sciences
Energy conservation in a system can be explained by describing energy transfers and transformations.
o Literacy
o Critical and creative thinking
o Numeracy
o Sustainability
The motion of objects can be described and predicted using the laws of physics
MATHEMATICS
Learning mathematics creates opportunities for and enriches the lives of all Australians. The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics provides students with essential mathematical skills and knowledge in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability.
Year 9
Linear and non-linear relationships
Find the distance between two points located on a Cartesian plane using a range of strategies, including graphing software
Pythagoras and trigonometry
Year 9
Investigate Pythagoras's theorem and its application to solving simple problems involving right angled triangles. Critical and creative thinkingNumeracy
Use similarity to investigate the constancy of the sine, cosine and tangent ratios for a given angle in right-angled triangles.
Information and communication technology capability
Critical and creative thinking
Apply trigonometry to solve right-angled triangle problems.
Year 10
Establish the sine, cosine.
o Literacy
o Information and communication technology capability
o Critical and creative thinking
o Numeracy
o Information and communication technology capability
o Critical and creative thinking
Solve simple trigonometric equations.
o Information and communication technology capability
o Critical and creative thinking
o Numeracy
Apply Pythagoras's theorem and trigonometry to solving three-dimensional problems in right-angled triangles.
o Literacy
o Intercultural understanding
o Information and communication technology capability
o Critical and creative thinking