No. 36 Squadron RAAF

No. 36 Squadron RAAF

No. 36 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force strategic transport squadron. It operates Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlifters from RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. It was formed at RAAF Station Laverton, Victoria, in March 1942, and equipped with Douglas DC-2s, among other aircraft.

About No. 36 Squadron RAAF in brief

Summary No. 36 Squadron RAAFNo. 36 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force strategic transport squadron. It operates Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlifters from RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. The squadron has seen active service flying transport aircraft during World War II, the Korean War, the Indonesia–Malaysia Konfrontasi, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has also supported Australian humanitarian and peacekeeping operations around the world, including Somalia, Cambodia, East Timor and Indonesia. It was formed at RAAF Station Laverton, Victoria, in March 1942, and equipped with Douglas DC-2s, among other aircraft. Later in the war it began operating Douglas C-47 Dakotas. In 1953 it was re-formed at Iwakuni, Japan, as part of No.  91 Wing. It returned to Australia and the aegis of No  86 Wing in 1955. In 1958 it began re-equipping with Lockheed C-130 Hercules at Richmond, becoming the first non-US operator of the type. It transferred to Amberley in 2006, when it took delivery of its first Globeemaster. No. 36 squadron’s official crest, approved in May 1966, depicts a horse intended to symbolise strength, speed, mobility and dependability. The unit’s motto is “Sure”. The squadron is staffed by maintenance personnel responsible for regular servicing of equipment; they are frequently required to accompany the aircraft on deployments overseas. The aircraft are generally crewed by two pilots and a loadmaster, the latter being responsible for the loading, carriage and unloading of cargo or passengers.

It can carry 70 tonnes of equipment, and can also carry over 130 passengers, and is designed for aerial despatch of paratroops or cargo. Flown with a joystick and fly-by-wire controls, the aircraft is also highly manoeuvrable and responsive considering its size. It can be refuelled in flight by the Airbus KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transports operated by No  33 Squadron. It is controlled by Air Mobility Group, which is part of Air Mobility. Group’s headquarters comprises executive, administrative and operational components. No 36 Squadron was established on 11 March 1942, under the control of Southern Area Command. Its initial strength was twenty-six personnel and one DouglasDC-2, as well as examples of various de Havilland types including the DH 84 Dragon, DH 86 Express, DH. 89 Dragon Rapide, and Tiger Moth. During the New Guinea campaign it was responsible for courier and supply drops and supply runs and undertaking courier runs and drops. In 1945, a detachment of No 36 Squadron crashed on takeoff in pre-dawn fog, killing all occupants of twenty-three occupants, twenty of whom were RAAF Women Auxiliary Air Force personnel. It relocated to Garbutt Garbutt on 20 February 1944, and then to Essendon on 17 July.