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Always There Always There Always There A History of Air Force Combat Support Graham O’Brien © Commonwealth of Australia 2009 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under theCopyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. Disclaimer The views expressed in this work are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defence, the Royal Australian Air Force or the Government of Australia, or of any other authority referred to in the text. The Commonwealth of Australia will not be legally responsible in contract, tort or otherwise, for any statements made in this document. Release This document is approved for public release. Portions of this document may be quoted or reproduced without permission, provided a standard source credit is included. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: O’Brien, Graham, 1952- Title: Always there : a history of Air Force Combat Support / Graham O’Brien. ISBN: 9781920800451 (pbk.) Subjects: Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. Combat Support Group--History. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force--Ground support. Air bases--Australia--History. Dewey Number: 358.4131 Cover Photos Front Cover: A CSG tradesman (Corporal Peter Fisher) works on the construction of a modern military shelter at Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2007, while an early Air Force construction team (background) break during work on Bessoneau hangars at Point Cook in the 1920s (images courtesy of No 1 Air Operations Support Squadron and RAAF Museum) Rear Cover, from top: CSG health staff training for AME operations on the C-17 Globemaster, Kadena, Japan, 2007 (Health Services Wing) An AME patient is loaded on to a C-47 Dakota during the Korean War, supervised by a RAAF nurse (Flight Officer Betty Washington), Kimpo, Korea, c. 1953 (RAAF Museum) A mobile workshop of the Australian Flying Corps, Point Cook, 1916 (RAAF Museum) ADGs patrol through the mulga in western QLD, 1998 (RAAF Museum) [Faded in the background – A Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle with crew and a military working dog team, 2008 (No 395 Expeditionary Combat Support Wing)] Published and distributed by: Air Power Development Centre Telephone: + 61 2 6266 1355 TCC-3, Department of Defence Facsimile: + 61 2 6266 1041 CANBERRA ACT 2600 E-mail: [email protected] AUSTRALIA Website: www.raaf.gov.au/airpower Foreword The effectiveness of the Royal Australian Air Force depends on our ability to deploy air power wherever and whenever necessary. The RAAF must also have the ability to sustain deployed operations at a tempo of our own choosing for potentially long periods of time. Our unique geo-strategic position determines that most ADF operations will be, essentially and by necessity, expeditionary and the vast size of Australia’s territory makes even exercises and training expeditionary in nature. In recent years, the RAAF has been repeatedly called upon to undertake air expeditionary operations in Timor, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, and Indonesia, as well as our ongoing commitments in the Middle East Area of Operations. Australia is widely regarded as having the best smaller air force in the world. As this book makes clear, central to this assessment is our capacity and demonstrated ability to establish and operate forward air bases to sustain our air combat forces in theatre. Graham O’Brien takes us through the story of combat support, from the formative years of Australian military aviation in World War I through to the most recent activities of Combat Support Group elements in East Timor and the Middle East. This book, however, is not just simply the story of the Air Force’s support for air combat operations. Graham has drawn out and highlighted many valuable lessons in his extensive research of combat support operations and units. He narrates each operational commitment from the perspective of a commander - an approach to the subject matter that he is well qualified to take. In a career spanning 35 years as a RAAF navigator, Graham has extensive combat support experience: from his initial appointment to No 1 Operational Support Unit in the 1980s, through to his final posting as Officer Commanding No 395 Expeditionary Combat Support Wing in 2005; and through his participation in major combat support operations, including deployment to East Timor with INTERFET. As a staff officer, senior executive and commander, Graham has witnessed and helped shape the strategic policy and development of the Combat Support Group. In 2008 the Combat Support Group celebrated its tenth anniversary, and I would like to congratulate Graham for this contribution to both the history of the RAAF and our professional understanding of combat support. I recommend this book to anyone involved in the planning and conduct of air operations and to those with a professional or personal interest in the support of air power operations. Air Marshal Mark Binskin, AM Chief of Air Force v About the Author Graham O’Brien served in a variety of posts during his 35-year Air Force career, as a navigator and qualified navigation instructor on C-130 and trainer aircraft, as an intelligence staff officer and extensively in combat support roles. Over several postings covering 20 years, as a unit and wing executive officer and commander, and as a staff officer at the strategic and operational levels, he developed an expansive knowledge of combat support and witnessed much of its history. He lives bayside in Brisbane with his wife Janet, is a recent grandparent and plans to write some more. vi Contents Foreword................................................................... v About the Author ...........................................................vi Contents ..................................................................vii List of Illustrations .........................................................viii Preface ....................................................................xiv Abbreviations..............................................................xvi Chapter 1: AFC and the Early RAAF . 1. Chapter 2: World War II . 17 Chapter 3: Base Squadrons and Support Units . 53 Chapter 4: Defence Reforms . 89 Chapter 5: Down to Business . 121 Chapter 6: Remedial Action . 153 Chapter 7: Building a Legacy . 177. Chapter 8: Reshape and Rebalance . 211 Appendix 1: Commanders and Units – Combat Support Group . 235 Appendix 2: Commanders and Units – Operational Support Group . 239 Appendix 3: RAAF Combat Support Units of World War II . 241 Appendix 4: Major ADF Operations Supported by CSG . 245 Bibliography . 247 Index . 251 vii List of Illustrations Combat support to the Half Flight included mule teams, seen here recovering a very broken BE2c aircraft, Mesopotamia, c. 1916 ...............4 Mobile aerodrome control tower, Suez (Egypt), c. 1916.....................5 AFC base camp with airfield in the background, Middle East, c. 1917 ........7 Equipment gifted from Britain for the new Air Force, Point Cook ............9 Mobile radio workshop, late 1920s .......................................11 Motor Transport Section, RAAF Point Cook, 1928 ........................12 Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Williams, inspects a Morris Cowley truck, Laverton, c. 1936..........................................13 Response teams were mainly concerned with fires .........................19 New arrivals in the Middle East, possibly 450 Squadron, May 1941 .........21 Mess area, North Africa, c. 1943..........................................23 No 1 Air Ambulance Unit provided aeromedical evacuation for all Allied forces, Sicily, September 1943......................................25 Christmas church service, Gambut, December 1942.......................26 Slit trenches and dispersal reduced the damage for the RAAF at Singapore ..28 Radio operator, Corporal Bell, after escape from the base on Timor, March 1942 .....................................................31 Damaged hangar at RAAF Darwin, with the landmark water tower in the background, 19 February 1942...........................................34 The main store on fire, RAAF Darwin, 19 February 1942...................35 No 2 Airfield Defence Squadron and Airfield Construction Squadron personnel go ashore at Tarakan, Borneo, May 1945 ........................39 Mobile stores, probably of 25 Air Stores Park, at Noemfoor, PNG, October 1944.....................................................40 Mealtime, South-West Pacific, c. 1944 ....................................42 Airfield construction was critical to air operations . .44 Clearing the airfield road with protection party, Noemfoor, PNG, November 1944...................................................46 Bren gun crew, Noemfoor, August 1944...................................48 First arrivals in Japan with the Occupation Force, Bofu, 1945...............53 Bofu barracks, Japan, c. 1946.............................................55 Fire Section, Bofu, Japan, 1948 ...........................................57 Forward area, Korea, c. 1955 .............................................59 Loading aeromedical evacuation patient, Kimpo, Korea, c. 1953 ............62 Unloading 2 Airfield Construction Squadron equipment...................64 viii RAAF Ubon domestic area, Thailand, 1962 . .65 Prime Minister John Gorton visits 1 Operational Support Unit, Vung Tau, Vietnam, c. 1968 ..............................................69 ADG Section (Watch-Dog
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