The wing was established to provide fighter protection for an Allied offensive from Darwin in northern Australia into the eastern Netherlands East Indies (NEI).

In early 1944 General George Kenney, the commander of the Allied air forces in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), adopted a goal of landing forces at Selaru Island in the eastern NEI and establishing a bomber base there.

Accordingly, in early March, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock, who led RAAF Command, presented Kenney with a proposal for the RAAF to contribute two fighter wings and several ancillary units to this operation, which at the time was scheduled for 15 June.

[1] In March Group Captain Clive Caldwell, the RAAF's highest-scoring flying ace of the war, reluctantly accepted command of the projected Spitfire wing after his request for a transfer to Europe was rejected by Chief of the Air Staff Air Vice Marshal George Jones.

Jones told Caldwell during a meeting that the wing would have the highest priority for supplies and equipment.

[1] Both of these squadrons had seen extensive combat over Europe and northern Australia and were based at Sattler Airfield near Darwin.

80 Wing, however, and Caldwell continued to develop plans for its involvement in the Selaru operation until late August.

In September Air Commodore Alan Charlesworth, the commander of North-Western Area, reported to Bostock that the wing's morale could drop if it was not either given an active role or transferred to southern Australia.

1 Wing's Spitfires were making occasional strafing attacks on Japanese positions in the NEI and sought approval to conduct similar operations.

Caldwell did not agree to this, however, as be believed that the risks associated with flying Spitfires to the edge of their range to attack unimportant targets outweighed any benefits to morale.

80 Wing to the recently captured island of Morotai in the NEI as part of a redeployment of RAAF units in the SWPA.

On 8 November Caldwell received orders to begin the movement to Morotai as soon as possible, and he visited the island late that month.

During the squadron's trip to Morotai that day, three Spitfires were destroyed or damaged as a result of landing accidents at Merauke, New Guinea.

[12] As expected, living facilities at Morotai were initially very basic, and Caldwell traded liquor for the services of US engineer units to improve the wing's camp site.

[14] At the time Morotai was a major Allied base and had been attacked by Japanese aircraft on multiple occasions.

On 19 April, Caldwell, Gibbes and six other senior 1TAF officers attempted to resign in protest against what they believed was the misuse of fighter aircraft in ground attack operations against isolated Japanese positions.

81 Wing and deployed to Labuan on 18 June as part of the Operation Oboe Six landings in the Brunei Bay region.

79 Squadron remained at Morotai and continued to fly ground attack sorties against Japanese positions on the nearby island of Halmahera.

While it was intended that the wing's three flying squadrons would come under the command of this group, in the event it only took operational control of No.