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38SQN farewelled the much-
loved Caribou in 2009. defence

about the Caribou. But it was practical
and built to serve a purpose.
And therein lay its appeal to the
generations of pilots who flew it.
“It was a beautiful aircraft to fly,”
recalled SQNLDR Plenty.
“I was firmly of the opinion that
every pilot who joined the Air Force
should get sent to Caribous before
they went to something else because it
had no auto-pilot and was completely
manual.”
For retired Air Commodore and
Vietnam veteran Kevin Henderson,
the Caribou was a welcome upgrade
from the tired, WW2-era C-47
Dakotas the squadron was then flying. A 38SQN King Air shares SQNLDR Benson remembered the “Thirteen tonnes of aircraft at
Reverse thrust, nosewheel steering Townsville ramp space with Caribou a little differently. 67 knots coming down on final with
and an impressive short takeoff and an Army CH-47D Chinook and a After not making it through to fast a landing roll that’s shorter than a
landing (STOL) capability were 35SQN C-27J. defence jets, the rugged aircraft wasn’t exactly Cessna’s – 500 to 800ft landing rolls
luxuries the old C-47 never afforded. his first choice when he was posted to is just incredible and you only needed
“The Army wanted an aircraft that 38SQN in 1997. about 1,000ft to takeoff,” he said.
could support them a little better than “When I first joined, I never ever “There’s some very challenging
the Dakota could and that’s why the wanted to fly it,” he said. flying up there, extremely high lowest
Caribou was purchased,” he explained. “All I ever wanted to do was fly safe altitudes and getting in and out of
“It had roughly the same fighters and instead I was assigned to places when the weather is unfriendly
cargo-carrying capacity as the Dakota the slowest and supposedly the worst can be difficult.
but it was a much better support aircraft in the RAAF. But it’s been the “A lot of the places we were going
aircraft with rear loading and was ‘Flying in most fun aircraft I’ve ever flown. to, you could only get in and out of
good for paratrooping out the back “Flying in Papua New Guinea was there visually because there is no
and side doors. Papua New the greatest.” instrument approach, or if there is,
“The biggest advantage for the Indeed, SQNLDR Plenty believed it’s the NDB (non-directional beacon)
Army then was that it could operate Guinea was the Caribou was in its element when that hasn’t worked for a long time.”
off unprepared airstrips because of navigating the mountainous terrain SQNLDR Benson, an East Timor
the low pressure tyres and reverse the greatest.’ of PNG’s Highlands region where its veteran, said the Caribou’s versatility
thrust. It came into its own operating impressive STOL performance came in the field unsupported was
in Vietnam.” SQNLDR ROSS BENSON to the fore. impressive.

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