[11] Bladin found that the unit, flying Westland Wapitis and Hawker Demons out of RAAF Station Laverton in Victoria, "had not operated under field conditions away from its brick hangars and concrete tarmac since its inception some eight years previous".

He proceeded to change this, deploying the squadron 300 miles away to Cootamundra in rural New South Wales, where he "borrowed a portion of a sheep station from a friend so that the pilots could carry out their bombing practice" over a two-week period commencing in late November 1935.

[17] Based in Darwin, Bladin's role as AOC NWA was to conduct the air defence of Torres Strait, the Northern Territory, and north Western Australia.

[1] He also had to restore morale following the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 and deal with the threat of imminent invasion, tasks complicated by the poor state of local communications, transport and early warning systems.

He became, in the words of historian Alan Stephens, "the RAAF's outstanding area commander of the war", and earned distinction as the first Australian decorated by the United States in the Pacific theatre of operations when he was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry.

[21] Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1943,[22] he stepped up offensive strikes against island bases and shipping in the Timor and Arafura Seas as the Allies took the fight to the Japanese.

[20] To help protect northern Australia from ongoing air attack, three squadrons of Spitfire fighters were transferred from the United Kingdom in late 1942, becoming operational in March 1943 as No.

An adverse communiqué concerning the action was issued from General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters and was picked up by Australian newspapers, which reported the Spitfires' "heavy losses" and caused resentment in NWA.

Bladin complained to his superior, Air Vice-Marshal Bill Bostock, that the "alarmist tendency of the press and radio references was having a bad effect on the combat pilots".

He also ordered an immediate Beaufighter strike led by Wing Commander Charles Read against Penfui airfield, on the assumption that this was where the Japanese raiders were based; four aircraft were destroyed on the ground.

1 Fighter Wing recorded NWA's most successful interception to date, claiming fourteen Japanese raiders destroyed and ten damaged, for the loss of two Spitfires.

[2][4] On two occasions in June 1945, he was considered for the position of AOC RAAF Command, the Air Force's main operational formation in the South West Pacific.

Bladin would have replaced Bostock, who was facing disciplinary action for refusing to comply with directives from the Air Board, the RAAF's controlling body, but in the end the Australian government made no change to command arrangements.

238 (Airborne Assault) Group, to the Pacific theatre and requested Bladin be released from his duties as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff to assume its command, but this was cancelled with the end of hostilities in August 1945.

His next posting was to Kure, Japan, in January 1946, as chief of staff to Lieutenant General John Northcott, commander of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF).

Northcott reportedly chose Bladin not only for his operational command and staff experience in the RAAF and the RAF during World War II, but for his pedigree as a Duntroon graduate rather than having a purely Air Force background.

[2][33] As AOC Eastern Area, Bladin was instrumental in organising the acquisition of a new site for his then-headquarters at Bradfield Park on Sydney's North Shore, namely the former Lapstone Hotel at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains.

[34][35] RAAF Staff College opened in June 1949 at Point Cook, providing an advanced defence course aimed at squadron leaders and wing commanders; international facilities were also utilised to further officers' education.

[39] Over the following year, in response to increased demands for aircrew to meet Australia's commitments to the Malayan Emergency and the Korean War, pilot training was broken out from a single all-encompassing course at No.

[41][42] Shortly after leaving the Air Force, Bladin donated an eponymous trophy for the service's best-performing Avro Lincoln unit in bombing and aerial gunnery competition.