AirForces Monthly – September 2019

#378 September 2019 // 55

New South Wales, in March 1952.

He took control of the unit in May

1953 and helped oversee the first

Fighter Combat Instructor (FCI)

course early the following year.

The FCI evolved over the next

few decades and as new fighters

arrived with the RAAF, including

Sabres, Mirages and Hornets.

By the mid-2010s the RAAF

acknowledged that a new

focus on fighter pilot training

was required to bring together

students, instructors, supporting

resources and overall air power

capabilities. A new structure to

manage these assets and a new

training approach emerged as the

Air Warfare Centre (AWC). At the

same time, the FCI was retitled

as the Air Warfare Instructor

Course and was moved out of

Air Combat Group control and

placed directly under the AWC.

Lighting the way

AWIC sees a wide range of

RAAF assets come to the Top

End – the northernmost part

of the Northern Territory – and

this year around 70 aircraft

attended. Several RAAF Force

Element Groups were active:

• Air Combat Group: No 1
  Squadron (F/A-18F), No 6
  Squadron (EA-18G), Nos 75
  and 77 Squadrons (F/A-18A)


• Surveillance and Response
  Group: No 114 Mobile
  Control and Reporting Unit,
  No 2 Squadron (E-7A), No
  10 Squadron (AP-3C)


• Air Mobility Group: No 32
  Squadron (King Air), No 33
  Squadron (KC-30A), No 36
  Squadron (C-17A), No 37
  Squadron (C-130J)

in the Top End

natural disaster occur, or a conflict

break out, the RAAF is expected

to work as a co-ordinated and

integrated force with its partners.

Polishing rough

diamonds

Today’s AWIC can be traced back

to the Korean War when the RAAF

proved unable to use its pilots and

jets effectively in combat. As he

set about addressing the problem,

Wing Commander R C Cresswell,

DFC, acknowledged that the

fighter pilot training programme

was falling short. Creswell

advocated for the re-forming

of No 2 (Fighter) Operational

Training Unit, which was stood

up at RAAF Base Williamtown,

Force multipliers

RAAF No 33 Squadron KC-30A tankers flew out of RAAF Base Darwin to

refuel aircraft involved in the exercise. The tankers regularly took off and

headed south towards Tindal and the Delamere Air Weapons Range.

A typical KC-30A mission involved a racetrack pattern flown at around

22-24,000ft (6,706-7,315m), where several flights of ‘classic’ Hornets and Super

Hornets would merge on the tanker and take on fuel via the hose and drogue.

The receivers all formed up on the left wing before taking their turns in pairs,

with one going to the port side and the other to starboard. During the ‘hook-

ups’, each F/A-18 planned to take on around 6,000lb (2,722kg) of fuel. Once filled

up, the fighters then broke away from the tanker and returned to the range.

1: An F-15C fl own by the California Air National Guard’s 194th Fighter

Squadron ‘Griffi ns’ takes off from RAAF Base Darwin as a No 2 OCU

F/A-18A Hornet taxies to the runway for a Diamond Storm mission. The

‘classic’ Hornet, A21-33, is a former No 75 Squadron jet and retains that

unit’s ‘Magpie’ tail markings as well as a bomb tally on the nose from

Middle East deployments. All photos CPL Craig Barrett/Commonwealth of

Australia, Department of Defence unless stated 2: The scene at RAAF Base

Darwin as a No 2 OCU F/A-18B heads out for a sortie while a B-52H

takes off. The Stratofortress from the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron

deployed to Australia from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, under the

USAF’s Enhanced Air Cooperation initiative. 3: Nackeroo Airfi eld, within

the Bradshaw Field Training Area in the Northern Territory, was used

for assault landings by this No 36 Squadron C-17A. The Globemaster

III operated from a dirt strip prepared by airfi eld engineers from No 65

Squadron, providing an airfi eld length of 3,500ft – the minimum prescribed

for C-17A operations.

Two-seat F/A-18Bs top up from a No 33 Squadron KC-30A as the fi ghters

redeploy following Diamond Storm 2019. The unit achieved initial operational

capability with the KC-30A in February 2013 and since then has acquired

another pair of former Qantas A330s converted to Multi-Role Tanker Transport

confi guration. The fi rst of these was delivered in August 2017 and the second

arrived in May this year. SQNLDR Paul Simmons/Commonwealth of Australia,

Department of Defence

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