No. 4 Central Recovery Depot RAAF

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Brief History

The manpower resources of the salvage sections of 4 Aircraft Depot, Boulder, 4 Service Flying Training School, Geraldton, 9 Elementary Flying Training School, Cunderdin, and 4 Supply Depot Maylands, were combined to form No. 4 Central Recovery Depot on 15 March 1944. In addition to the main body at Boulder, The Commanding Officer had responsibility for two detachments - 'A' at Geraldton and 'B' at Maylands. The latter was the non-technical section.

An advance party of six airmen arrived at the Maylands site on 21 March to prepare it for the transfer of stores and equipment during April. The first engines Cheetah IXs were accepted for conversion to components on 27 March, and the unit headquarters transferred from Boulder to Maylands on 12 Apr 1944. The move to Maylands was complete with the arrival of the last nine airmen from Detachment 'A' on 4 May 1944. A Tiger Moth, the first aircraft allocated to the Depot, was forwarded from MacRobertson and Millers for conversion to an instructional airframe on 28 Apr 1944. Next a party proceeded to Yanchep to salvage a Vultee Vengeance aircraft. The salvage crews recovered aircraft from Geraldton, Broome, Cunderdin and Learmonth.

The Depot's strength peaked at 171 officers and other ranks (including 30 airwomen) by the end of February 1945. Facilities included a guard room, dope shop, transport section and change room. From September 1945 a feature of Depot activities was its involvement with the disbandment of radar units at Cape Naturalist, Jurian Bay and Geraldton. It also assisted with the disbandment of No. 4 Recruitment Depot at Busselton. The unit was disbanded on 12 April 1946.

Unit Personnel

• Raymond Ernest Buckingham
• Robert Alexander MacLean 15 Mar 1944- 2 Dec 1945 - Outposted to No. 76 Operational Base Unit RAAF for periods.

Notes

Content has come from Units of the Royal Australian Air Force - A Concise History - Volume 8 Training Unit Australian Government Publishing Service 1995.