Anthony Cooper. In 1943, a small band of inexperienced Australian and British fighter pilots fought an ongoing air battle in defence of north western Australia, flying against a formidably skilled and proficient opponent. The air raids on Darwin during 1942-43 constituted the only sustained and intensive direct assault on Australian mainland territory in the whole of World War Two. Anthony Cooper, a Brisbane school teacher and author of Darwin Spitfires tells this little known story, and in so doing, recovers this important aspect of Australian History.