Stories
Historic features from the Association’s archive — squadrons, aircraft, memorials and the operations that made them, many written by the people who were there.
Iroquois of No 9 Squadron over Vietnam · Australian War Memorial, via raafa.org.au
From the archive · June 2021
South Australian Eagles
Thirty South Australians who served in the Air Force over a century, profiled for the RAAF Centenary.
Read the story
The Australian Flying Corps Memorial, Point Cook
The Association’s forerunner lobbied for the cenotaph on Point Cook’s parade ground — and its copper capsules hold 11,401 names.
The Battle of Britain “Lace”
Thirty-eight lace panels woven in Nottingham between 1942 and 1947; four are in Australia, one on loan from the Association.
C-band radar and space surveillance
No 1 Remote Sensor Unit and the radar at Harold E. Holt that watches objects in orbit.
Jindalee: over-the-horizon radar
Three radar stations that can see aircraft and ships across thirteen million square kilometres.
The B-24 Liberator
The most important long-range bomber in the Pacific, and a demanding aircraft to fly.
Forward Air Controllers
Thirty-six RAAF pilots flew as FACs with the USAF in South Vietnam, directing close air support from the front seat.
The F-4E Phantom in RAAF service
Twenty-four leased Phantoms filled the gap while Australia waited for the F-111 — and the crews who flew them never forgot it.
2 Squadron Canberras in Vietnam
Eight sorties a day, seven days a week: how the Magpies’ Canberras became the most accurate bombers in South Vietnam.
9 Squadron at Long Tan
The night of 18 August 1966: two Iroquois crews flew an ammunition resupply at tree-top height in a tropical storm.
The Canberra bomber
Fifty-two Canberras served the RAAF from 1953 to 1982 — the "Queen of the Skies".
Write for the archive
Have a story from your squadron, unit or aircraft?
Most of these features were written by members. If you served with a unit, flew or maintained a type, or have researched a piece of Air Force history, the Association will help you publish it here — with photographs, credits and a place in the archive.
Keep their stories alive
Know a story that belongs here — a relative, a squadron, an aircraft? Tell us, and help the Association record and share the service of the Air Force family.