No. 75 Squadron RAAF
Royal Australian Air Force squadron / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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No. 75 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter unit based at RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. The squadron was formed in 1942 and saw extensive action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, operating P-40 Kittyhawks. It was disbanded in 1948, but reformed the following year and operated jet aircraft throughout the Cold War. The squadron was based at Malta from 1952 to 1954, flying de Havilland Vampires, and Malaysia from 1968 to 1983, with Dassault Mirage IIIs, before returning to Australia.
No. 75 Squadron RAAF | |
---|---|
Active | 1942–1948 1949–1954 1955–current |
Branch | Royal Australian Air Force |
Role | Fighter |
Part of | No. 81 Wing, Air Combat Group |
Garrison/HQ | RAAF Base Tindal |
Motto(s) | Seek and Strike |
Engagements | World War II (1942–1945) Iraq War (2003) Military intervention against ISIL (2015) |
Decorations | Meritorious Unit Citation |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Peter Jeffrey (1942) John Jackson (1942) Les Jackson (1942–1943) Wilfred Arthur (1943) Melvin Hupfeld (2001–2003) |
Aircraft flown | |
Fighter | P-40 Kittyhawk (1942–1945) P-51 Mustang (1946–1948) de Havilland Vampire (1949–1954, 1955–1957) Gloster Meteor (1955–1957) CAC Sabre (1957–1965) Mirage III (1965–1988) F/A-18 Hornet (1988–2021) F-35A Lightning II (2021–current) |
Reconnaissance | F-4 Lightning (1943) |
Transport | GAF Nomad (1989–1993) |
The squadron was re-equipped with F/A-18 Hornet fighters and moved to RAAF Base Tindal in 1988. It was placed on alert to support the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping deployment to East Timor in 1999, and saw combat in 2003 as part of the Australian contribution to the invasion of Iraq and in 2015 during the military intervention against ISIL. The F/A-18s were retired in December 2021, and the squadron received its first F-35A Lightning IIs the same month.