Page 44 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

44
POST WAR, LITTLE PEACE
Inevitably, the end of WWII saw a massive reduction of the RAAF and other branches of the armed forces. At its peak in 1944 the RAAF had 164,341 personnel on strength. In the two years following the end of the war the numbers dropped dramatically to 10,000 by early 1947 and just over 8,000 a year later with the prospect of a rise to 14,000 un- der plans for the post-war RAAF.
By 1950 the fleet comprised Lincoln bombers, Mustang and Vampire fighters (the latter the RAAF’s first operation- al jet), Dakota transports, Catalina flying boats, Mosquito survey aircraft and an assortment of trainers including the Tiger Moth and Wirraway.
Many new types joined the RAAF in the 1950s - the Meteor jet fighter, Canberra jet bomber, the Neptune anti-submarine maritime bomber, Winjeel piston-engined trainer, Sabre jet fighter and right at the end of the decade, the first batch of Her- cules transports. Of these, the Canberra, Sabre and Winjeel were built in Australia, as had been the Lincoln and Vampire.
The world may have officially been at peace, but Aus- tralia and other nations soon found themselves embroiled in another war in 1950-53 (or ‘Police Action’ as it was of- ficially described) in Korea.
No 77 Squadron’s Mustangs were based in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force at the time and stayed on, operating from both Japan and Ko- rea. The squadron’s Mustangs were replaced with Gloster Meteors in April 1951, giving the RAAF its first combat experience with jets.
Even before Korea, the RAAF had become involved in another South-East Asian conflict, the anti-communist ter- rorist campaign in Malaya. 38 (Transport) Squadron and
LEFT: The RAAF’s workhorse fighter ‘at home’ during WWII, the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk. The RAAF received 848 of various models during the war – these are P-40Ns.
“IN 1939 THE CHANCES OF AUSTRALIA ITSELF BEING ATTACKED SEEMED REMOTE, BUT WHEN JAPAN ENTERED THE WAR IN LATE 1941 AND DIRECTLY THREATENED, DEFENSIVE CAPABILITY WAS FOUND LACKING”
its Dakotas was the first to go there in early 1950, quickly followed by 1 Squadron’s Lincoln bombers.
Operating from Singapore, this deployment proved to be a lengthy one for the Lincoln crews, lasting eight years dur- ing which time they dropped nearly 15,000 tons of bombs on the terrorists, or 85 per cent of the total allied effort.
The Malayan campaign heralded a strong and lengthy RAAF presence in the area, culminating in the building of a permanent RAAF base at Butterworth, Malaya and another at Ubon, Thailand.
This was the period of confrontation with Indonesia when war with Australia’s northern neighbour was a pos- sibility. Australia’s military planning revolved around that scenario at the time.
1960S AND VIETNAM
The 1960s saw the RAAF obtain further major items of equipment including the supersonic Mirage III fighter, another squadron of Hercules transports, the first Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the Caribou short take- off and landing tactical transport, Iroquois helicopters (the ubiquitous ‘Huey’ of Vietnam war fame), the Macchi MB.326 jet trainer and the ordering of the controversial but highly effective General Dynamics F-111 strike bomber.
The decade witnessed yet another conflict in which Aus- tralia would fight – Vietnam – with all three services in- volved and the RAAF playing a major part. First in and last out were the Caribou transports of the Vietnam Trans- port Flight, later elevated in status to 35 Squadron. No 9 Squadron’s Iroquois helicopters and No 2 Squadron’s Can- berra bombers followed.
continued p48
RAAF