RAAF Base East Sale is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base and training school, located in Sale, Victoria, Australia. The base is one of the main training establishments of the RAAF, including where Australian Air Force Cadets from 4 Wing (Victoria) have their biannual General Service Training as well as being home to No. 409 Squadron Australian Air Force Cadets. It is home to The Roulettes aerobatic team. It is also now the home of the RAAF's Officers' Training School (OTS) following its relocation from Point Cook Base. East Sale was upgraded to house the new OTS, which had its first intake of students in January 2008. The base houses approximately 700 air force personnel.
No. 1 Operational Training Unit (No. 1 OTU) was an operational conversion unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. Formed in December 1941 at Nhill, Victoria, it relocated to Bairnsdale in mid-1942, and then to East Sale the following year. No. 1 OTU's primary role was to train aircrew for multi-engined aircraft operations. At its peak of activity in August 1944, it was operating over 130 aircraft, the most numerous being Bristol Beauforts. Its aircraft and personnel also conducted transport missions in New Guinea and maritime patrols in southern Australian waters. Following the end of hostilities, the unit was disbanded in December 1945.
No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit is a fighter training unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Located at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales, the unit trains pilots to operate the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, conducts refresher courses for pilots returning to the type, and trains future Hornet instructors. Pilots new to the Hornet enter No. 2 OCU after first qualifying to fly fast jets at No. 79 Squadron and undertaking initial fighter combat instruction at No. 76 Squadron. Once qualified on the F/A-18, they are posted to one of No. 81 Wing's operational Hornet units, No. 3 Squadron, No. 75 Squadron or No. 77 Squadron.
No. 107 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol squadron of World War II. It was formed in May 1943 and was equipped with Vought OS2U Kingfisher aircraft. The squadron conducted anti-submarine patrols off the Australian east coast during the last years of the war, but did not encounter any enemy submarines. It was disbanded in October 1945.
RAAF Base Wagga is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located 5.8 nautical miles southeast of the town of Wagga Wagga, in the suburb of Forest Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
No. 5 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force training, army co-operation and helicopter squadron. The squadron was formed in 1917 as a training unit of the Australian Flying Corps in Britain, readying pilots for service on the Western Front. It subsequently became a naval fleet co-operation squadron, but was later redesignated as No. 9 Squadron RAAF before being re-formed as an army co-operation squadron during World War II. In the mid-1960s, it was re-formed as a helicopter squadron, before being disbanded in December 1989, when it was used to form the Australian Defence Force Helicopter Training School.
RAAF Base Rathmines is a heritage-listed former RAAF WWII seaplane base and now used as community venues, sports venues and a visitor attraction at Dorrington Road, Rathmines, City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. It was in use as an RAAF base from 1939 to 1961. It is also known as Rathmines Park, former RAAF Seaplane Base, Flying Boat Base, Rathmines Aerodrome and Catalina Base. The property is owned by Australian Christadelphian Bible School, Disability Life Enrichment, Don Geddes Nursing Home and Lake Macquarie City Council. The remains of the former air base was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 November 2005.
The Seaplane Training Flight was a Royal Australian Air Force unit responsible for providing seaplane conversion training to RAAF air and ground crew.
No. 60 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force fighter squadron of World War II. It was formed in January 1942 and disbanded three months later, without seeing combat.
No. 7 Operational Training Unit RAAF (7OTU) was a Royal Australian Air Force heavy bomber training unit of World War II. 7OTU was formed on 12 February 1944 at RAAF Station Tocumwal in southern New South Wales to train RAAF B-24 Liberator crews. 7OTU was initially equipped with ex-USAAF B-24Ds but later received new B-24J/L/Ms. At full strength the unit was equipped with 54 B-24s and was responsible for training 28 crews per month. 7OTU was disbanded following the end of the war.
No. 7 Squadron was an Australian flying training squadron of World War I and medium bomber squadron of World War II. The squadron was formed in England in October 1917 as part of the Australian Flying Corps, and disbanded in early 1919. It was re-formed by the Royal Australian Air Force on paper in June 1940, and operationally in January 1942. After seeing action during the Pacific War flying Lockheed Hudson and, later, DAP Beaufort bombers, the squadron was disbanded a second time in December 1945.
No. 5 Operational Training Unit was an operational training unit (OTU) of the Royal Australian Air Force. It was formed at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, in October 1942 to train pilots and navigators for service in World War II. The unit was initially equipped with Bristol Beauforts and Beaufighters, and later received Douglas Bostons and de Havilland Mosquitos, among other types. No. 5 OTU was transferred to Tocumwal in October 1943, and then to Williamtown in mid-1944. It was reorganised as a fighter conversion unit flying P-51 Mustangs and CAC Wirraways in February 1946, and disbanded in July 1947.
Seaplane Squadron was a flying unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) between the wars. It operated Supermarine Southampton flying boats from January 1928, as well as other types. Along with Fighter Squadron, Seaplane Squadron was a component of No. 1 Flying Training School, based at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria. Seaplane Squadron was responsible for coastal reconnaissance, training aircrew to operate seaplanes, and supporting the Royal Australian Navy. It also conducted survey flights over remote parts of Australia and mapped the Darwin–Sydney section of the Empire Air Mail Scheme route. Seaplane Squadron was disbanded in June 1939.
No. 4 Operational Training Unit was an operational conversion unit of the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. It was formed at Williamtown, New South Wales, in October 1942 to train pilots and wireless air gunners to operate Vultee Vengeance dive bombers. The school was equipped with Vengeances and CAC Wirraway aircraft. Accidents were common in operational conversion units, and No. 4 OTU suffered several fatal crashes during its existence. It was disbanded in April 1944, handing Williamtown over to No. 5 Operational Training Unit.
Air Commodore Hippolyte Ferdinand (Frank) De La Rue, CBE, DFC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Joining the Mercantile Marine as a youth, he became a pilot in Britain's Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. In 1918, he was given command of No. 223 Squadron in the newly formed Royal Air Force. The following year he took charge of No. 270 Squadron RAF in Egypt. Returning to Australia, De La Rue joined the short-lived Australian Air Corps in 1920, and became a founding member of the RAAF in March 1921. Specialising in maritime aviation, he led seaplane formations based at Point Cook, Victoria, during the 1920s and early 1930s.
No. 1 Flying Training School is a school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is one of the Air Force's original units, dating back to the service's formation in 1921, when it was established at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria. By the early 1930s, the school comprised training, fighter, and seaplane components. It was re-formed several times in the ensuing years, initially as No. 1 Service Flying Training School in 1940, under the wartime Empire Air Training Scheme. After graduating nearly 3,000 pilots, No. 1 SFTS was disbanded in late 1944, when there was no further requirement to train Australian aircrew for service in Europe.
RAAF Station Parkes was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) station located at Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. Formed in 1941 as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme as a training station during the Second World War. After the conclusion of hostilities, the training units ceased to operate from the station. No. 87 Squadron briefly operated from the airfield at the station from October 1945 until it was disbanded on 24 July 1946. The station closed in 1946.
RAAF Station Narromine was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) station located at Narromine, New South Wales, Australia. Narromine Airfield was requisitioned in July 1940 as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme during the Second World War.
No. 1 Operational Conversion Unit (No. 1 OCU) was an operational training unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Formed in January 1959 at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland, its role was to convert pilots and navigators to the English Electric Canberra bombers flown by Nos. 1, 2 and 6 Squadrons. The unit's complement of Canberras included T.4 and Mk.21 dual-control trainers, and Mk.20 bombers. Originally a component of No. 82 Wing, No. 1 OCU became an independent unit at Amberley in April 1968, its focus being the provision of operationally ready pilots for service with No. 2 Squadron in the Vietnam War. No. 1 OCU was disbanded in June 1971, following the withdrawal of No. 2 Squadron from South-East Asia. By then the RAAF's only Canberra unit, No. 2 Squadron ran its own conversion courses before disbanding in 1982.
Southern Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in March 1940, and initially controlled units located in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and southern New South Wales. Headquartered in Melbourne, Southern Area Command was responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. From 1942 its operational responsibilities excluded New South Wales.
