ANZAC Day 2017

ANZAC DAY IS A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
2017 marked 101 years since the first commemoration of ANZAC in Sydney. We owed it to those who have gone before, those who are yet to come as well as those who currently carry the flame to ensure the day was as dignified and respectful as possible by abiding by the agreed guidelines and directions of volunteer marshals at each of these important services and events.

This was our first opportunity to appear in public as an Association.

ANZAC Day March Sydney
Assembly
Post-WWII Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
In Castlereagh between Martin Place and Hunter Street
Forming up No Later than 1000 Hours immediately behind 36 and 37 Squadron Associations. This is a permanent position for us.
ANZAC Day March Brisbane
Assembly
Formed up with RTFV-35Sqn in William St, between Queen and Elizabeth Streets behind the Casino. We were there before 1030 hours.

 

25 June 1980 – Caribou escaped ditching in Banda Sea

A Caribou light transport (A4-179) faced a dire emergency on this day after losing an engine on a routine flight between the Indonesian islands of Tual and Ambon. The aircraft was flying in support of Operation Pattimura, a three-year project conducted by Army under Australia’s Defence Cooperation Program to provide maps of Indonesia’s eastern Maluku province (better known as the Moluccas or Spice Islands).  With five passengers as well as the crew on board, it was still 75 kilometres short of its destination when one engine cut out.  Despite full power being applied to the remaining engine, the Caribou lost 4000 feet in altitude. The rate of descent was stabilised at 450 feet above water only by jettisoning the aircraft’s full cargo load into the Banda Sea –– less the barest essentials which the RAAF medical officer on board assessed would be required if forced to ditch.

 

21 Jul 1950 – RAAF transports flew in Malayan Emergency

On 21 April 1950, the British Government asked Australia for a direct contribution of air units to help in defeating a Communist-led insurgency which had broken out in Malaya 22 months earlier. Australia agreed on 19 May to send a squadron of eight C-47 Dakota transports, and a month later No 38 Squadron arrived at Changi airfield on Singapore Island. The unit flew its first mission in support of Operation Firedog (the RAF name for the air campaign during the Malayan Emergency) on this day, when a Dakota completed a routine courier run to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Taiping. In November, four of 38 Squadron’s aircraft were transferred to Japan, to provide support to Australian forces engaged in the war which began in Korea in June, and by November 1952 increasing demands on the RAAF’s transport fleet led to the rest of the unit being withdrawn back to Australia.

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