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The formation of the RAAF.
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| The RAAF’s first front line fighter aircraft, the 132MPH SE5A which entered service with the AFC as No 2 Sqn in 1917. One of these aircraft can be seen today at the Aust War Memorial. |
Military aviation first took wing in Australia when Central Flying School was formed at Point Cook in 1912, only nine years after the Wrights made the first successful controlled, powered flight at Kitty Hawk. Central Flying School grew quickly into the Australian Flying Corps. Two years later, in 1914, Australian pilots were dispatched on active service to New Guinea to help seize German colonies. One year after that, the Australian Flying Corps was fighting in Mesopotamia (Iraq); and by the end of World War 1, four Australian squadrons were in action on the Western Front in France.
While officially the Australian Flying Corps' main role was army co-operation, its squadrons inevitably became involved in air to air combat and bombing attacks as the full potential of the air weapon became apparent. Australian fighter pilot A.H. Cobby, for example, was credited with 29 kills, making him one of WW1's leading aces.
It was partly because of the manifest potential of air power that the RAAF was established as an independent service in 1921. Nevertheless the period between the 1st and 2nd world wars was a difficult one for Australia's airmen. Australia's first Chief of the Air Staff, Wng Cdr (later Air Marshal Sir) Richard Williams, (is that where Laverton went-tb?) found himself repeatedly under attack from his army and navy counterparts who persistently argued there was no place for independent air power, that air forces would always exist only to support armies and navies.
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| The RAAF hard at war in Vietnam. Col Knudson (Caribou loady) taking it easy at Back Beach in December, 1969. (What did you do in the war daddy??) |
One of the major factors in reversing the Japanese advance through SE Asia was the alliance formed between American, Australian, New Zealand and Dutch forces. Probably the most notable action from an Australian perspective was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, fought over 50 years ago on 2-4 Mar 1943. In a brilliantly conceived and executed operation, US and Australian aircraft destroyed 12 of the 16 ships of a Japanese convoy attempting a major reinforcement of New Guinea. That victory removed forever any likelihood that Japan would be able to regain the initiative in New Guinea, and so again threaten Australia.
At the start of WWII, the RAAF consisted of about 3,000 personnel and 300 aircraft. By 1945 it had grown 50-fold, to a force of over 180,000 personnel operating more than 3,000 aircraft (imagine being part of that Air Force!). By 1948, however, its personnel numbered only 8,000. During the Korean conflict it was the RAAF's P-51 Mustangs from 77 Sqn (which had been on duty in Japan) which initially provided much of the close air support for the beleaguered UN ground forces. Later re-equipped with the British-made Gloster Meteor jet fighter, 77 Sqn continued to operate in Korea as part of the U.S. Fifth Air Force. In the same month that the fighting in Korea started, RAAF Lincoln bombers and DC-3 transports had begun active service with British Commonwealth forces in Malaya, in a war which was to last 12 years. The RAAF also contributed a fighter wing to a British Commonwealth garrison in the Middle East, based in Malta, from 1952 to 1954.
Then came the Vietnam War, where the RAAF supported the U.S. effort from 1964 to 1972. RAAF Canberra bombers and Caribou transports contributed to the overall air effort, while Iroquois helicopters operated in support of an Australian Army task force. Neptune reconnaissance aircraft and C130 transports also participated in the war.
In addition to those flying units, a significant number of RAAF personnel served with USAF squadrons during the war, including F4 Phantom strike/reconnaissance pilots, Forward Air Control pilots, photographic interpreters and intelligence officers. While RAAF aircraft did not participate directly in the 1991 Gulf War, support was provided by intelligence officers, linguists and a medical team. A small number of aircrew saw active service with USAF, RAF and Royal Navy squadrons.
Since then, the RAAF has been involved in numerous peacekeeping and other humanitarian operations including Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bougainville, Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea.
RAAF Boeing 707 tankers also provided airborne refuelling for US and British aircraft monitoring the "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq in the early months of 1998.
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