No. 6 Squadron RAAF

[[File:]]

Brief History

[[File:]]

Brief History

The original 6 Squadron Australian Flying Corps was raised at Yatesbury, England on I Sep 1917 as a Fighter/Scout training unit. 6 Squadron was equipped with Hawker Deamon and later Avro Anson aircraft, was formed at Richmond, New South Wales as No. 4 (Genera Reconnaissance) Squadron, on 3 May 1937. It was renumbered as No. 6 Squadron in January 1939. The Squadron undertook reconnaissance and bombing exercises from Port Jackson, Cabo Island and Cape Byron, in co-operation with the Royal Australian Navy.

In August 1940, the Squadron searched in vain for a German raider which had sunk the SS Tourikina on the 20th. From February to November 1941, the Squadron flew seaward protection patrols over the approaches to Sydney Harbour. In May 1941, Lockheed Hudson aircralt were issued, and the Squadron flew patrols in search of enemy raiders and submaribes. in late 1941, early 1942 modified aircraft undertook very long range recce flights. On 5 June 1942, a Hudson attacked a suspected submarine near Newcastle. On 23 Aug 1942 the Squadron deployed to Horn Island, North Queensland, with a detached flight being sent to Milne Bay.

Following the Japanese attempt to invade at Milne Bay, 'six Hudsons effectively bombed and strafed enemy positions and stores dumps. During 29 Aug 1942 Flight Lieutenant D.W. Colquohoun, made a solo attack on an enemy force of one cruiser and eight destroyers, scoring a direct h1t on the stern of a destroyer. Victory at Milne Bay was won early in September 1942 and the Hudsons of No. 6 Squadron ranged ('li over the Trobriand, 'Entrecastcaux, Rosse! and Louisiade Islands in search of barges, landing strips and possible float plane bases. On 26 September, Pilot Officers Shore and Hitchcock strafed a 50O ton Japanese vessel north-west of Madau Island, in the Solomon Island group. Operations were antl'nsc. Between 5 and 25 September, 6 Squadron averaged eight missaons a day and totalled 761 Oyang hours, desp•te not 15 16 bemg able to operate from Milne Bay. Operahng from the Seven Mile Airstrip at Port Moresby, the Hudson crew5 took off before dawn and returned in darkness, in appalling weaU1er. Flight were being undertaken by the same crews for as many as six consecutive days. On 11 October 1942, the Squadron moved to Wards Strip, near Port Moresby. In conjunction with 100 Squadron, 6 Squadron was responsible ror lhc entire seaward reconnaissance in U1C New Guinea area, undertaking unspectacular and unrewarding anti-submarine patrols and other flights over enemy controlled territory. Between 6 and 28 November the Squadron commenced supply dropping ntissions to Buna, lama, Kokoda and Baibara Islands. ln addition, sick troops were flown out of Wanigcla Mjssion. TI1e Hudson> had been extremely hard worked, and difficult to mamtain. Despite this, the Squadron commenced night bombing mis.~ions on 6 December 1942, dropping bombs and flares tn the Buna, C.ona and Sanananda Point area~ and attacking enemy destroyers off Bun,l. These tasks continued until the Squadron deployed to Turnbull Field, Milne Bay. late m the month, to undertake normal seaward, photographtc and anll-submarine patrols. On 17 January 1943, 2·t enemy bombers allack<'d Turnbull Field. The bombs struck the 6 Squadron dispersal bays, damaging th ~ ,urcraft to such a degree that opcratmnal effort was impancd for some weeks. TI1c ground sta ff repaired the damage, and the Squadrtm was soon S<.'t:'king enemy targets. On 6 March 19H, Hudsons S<!arched for Japanese landing barges whtle the llattll' of the Bi>marck Sea "'•" oong fou~;ht, and nttacked enemy lifeboats of the survtvors. Until September. the Hudsons were uhlised flying reconnaiso;.1nces over the Solomon Sea, escorting Allied convoys, photographing radar st<llions at Gurney, Kiriwina and adjacent C.lands. On IS September, U1e Squadron commcnct-d opcr.1toons wtth Beauforts, seeking enemy shipping. On 8 October, Flying Officer Barr was attacked by >iX 'Zckes' and 'Osc,1rs' whilst on an arrncd rt><:onnaL<;sanct!, .1nd prob.1bly destroyed dO 'Oscar' and damaged a 'Z.cke' and .111 'Oscar'. During the night of 20 October, 6 and tOO Squ<~drons combmed in an attack on enemy w,1rships near Cape StGeorge, in which Flying Officer Hales claimed hit> on the port •ide of a ves""l. On the ntght of 14 November Flytng Officer A.G. Outl'S made" dtrcct hit on an 8000-ton ship in Simpson Harbour, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DI'C). Dunng November 19•13, 6 Squadron joined 8 and 100 Squadrons at Vivigani, Goodenough fsl.md, to form 71 Wing. The Wing struck at targets in New Brit,,in, conccnlratmg on the Rabaul ajrficlds, harbour installations and sh1pp1ng in S~p;,on I !arbour. The Beauforts operated at rught against constant anh·aircraft llrc, mienS<' St!archlight illununation and japanese night fighters. Th~ operatioN> contmued until the end of March 1944, when they were supplanted by seaward searches, anti�submarine patrols and photographiC nuss•ons. After a rune-month break. Rabauf was agam the target for 6 Squadron a~rcraft during january 1944. On 20 November 1944, the Squadron supported the 5th Division in the Sepik River area of north-<>asl New Cuuwa by attacking enemy stores and bivouac areas at New B1en and Angoram. The 12 .UCraft, rune of which attacked Angoram and thrt.'e New Bien, were led by Wing Commander Waddy. They staged through Madang. FinschhaJen and Saidor. This action was folfowl'd by further ~tnkes agamst targets in New Britain and supply dropping mL~ions to Army patrols operating on that island. Wh1lst complctmg a move to Horanda, Dobodura, on 26 january 1945, the Squadron new intensively agamst targets at Ralum, Sulphur Crt.'ek, Tobera, Vunakanau and M~tupi Island in New Britain. Also during January, 14 supply droppmg miSSIOns were Oown in support of Army patrols at Canna and Lllkirri nnd un 17 and t8 January, the Squadron new covering patrols over IIMS Howr and £>scorting cmisers nnd destroyers. On the second dny, all ship~. without explanation, opened fire on the aircraft during a normal changeover, but no damage was done. During February 1945, the Squadron altackt-d tnrgets on New Britain and on the New Guinea m.•inland. On the 15th, eight Beauforts were guidl'd by mortar on lo trenches and dugouts at Wide Bay, New Britain, which were bombed ,,nd strak>d. Eleven days later a Boomerang of 5 Squadron fed six Bcauforts on an enemy position near the Kalal Plantation. On the mainland, the Squddron flew strikes in the Sepik River area but, due to lh<' long nights involvl-d ,md the relative unimportance of the targets, only two armed reconnaissance mjssions were flown every second day. Until the end of the war, 6 Squadron new close support miss1ons from jacquinol Bay, over the Gazelle Penmsula. From the end of April, until 13 May, a detachment of e1ght Bcauforts operatl'd from Tadji, attacking Saun and Ka1cp villages and Wcwak Penu\Sula. These were the fmal wartime operations of 6 Squadron. 17 18 6 Squadron returned to Australia on 18 October 1945, and was disbanded at Kingaroy, Queen$land. on 31 October. On 23 F~bruary 1948, 23 Squadron, based at Amberley, Queensland, was re-named 6 Squadron. Equipped wiU' Lincoln aircraft, the Squadron operated the type for >even years. Initially, the Squadron strength stood at two Lmcolns, and very little flying was undertaken. Highhghts of Lincoln operations were flights to japan, Manus Island and Guam. The latter were part of mobility exercises, and the Squadron was given the opportunity to show its prowess when SS Kyoglc was bombed and sunk in Moreton Bay on 12 May 1951. An addt>d responsibility of the Squadron's was that of Lincoln aircrew training brought about by the deployment of 1 Squadron to Malaya for action during the Emergency. On 21 September, three 6 Squodron aircraft flew U\rough atomic clouds, lc~ting radiation lc,•els, alter the British Monte Bello atomic bomb tt'Sts. ll1is same task was repeated on 15 September 1953, when Flight Lieutenants Goldner. Onions and Weame and their crews sought and flew through atomic clouds after the 'Totem 1' detonation. On 27 September 1953, 'Totem 2' was detonated, and four 6 Squadron crew~ again interceptt>d radioactive clouds. The ftnal notable operatoons flown in the Lincoln were Oood relief m•ss•ons in February 1954 over Springvale, Kollcston, Casino, Kyogle "nd other northern New South Wnlcs towns. ll1cse were followed in February- March 1955 with flood relief missions over Moilland and north-west New South Wales. 6 Squadron completed its rc·<>quipment with the Australian-built Canberra on 11 July 1955. The (irsttwo yeors of operations were marred by a scn~>s of incidents. On 28 September 1955, a cww acct'Ss d<'>Or dL<appt>Med at 20 000 feel; in November, a Canberra suffered total hydraulic failure and bclly·landed at Alice Springs, Northern Territory; on 5 May 1956, a canopy fractured a.nd di$mtcgrated wh•m the aircraft was Oying at 35 000 feet and a partial canopy fui lurc occurred on 21 February 1957. Atr Defence excrciSt..""'S at DarwiJl were common, and overseas mlssions included indiv1dual a1rcraft supplying navigation support for Exercise 'S..1bre Ferry' to Butterworth and 'Lone Ranger' flights to New Zealand in 1962 and Port Moresby in June 1964. With the deployment of 2 Squadron to South Vietnam in 1967, 6 Squadron v~<tually became an operational trauung UI1Jt, feeding newly trained aircrew into u"' war 20""· By 1\169, Canberra operaliol'tS were limited, woth the Squadron awaoting the introduclion of the 1'·111 C. Due to the delays on th<.' F-I 11 C progr.tm, 24 P-4E Phantom aircraft were leased from the Unoted Stall'S A or Force. Members of 6 Squadron undertook conversion trainong at Davi!. and McDoJJ USAF bases before the first five Phantoms, led by Wing Commander R. Frost, were ferried to Australia on 14 September 1970. The Squadron operated Phantoms until 4 October 19n, and the leased aorcraft returned to the USAF. During operations with th<.' aircraft oroly two maJor incidents occurred. On 19 October 1970, 69·72J.I crash-landed, and, although the aircrah was severely darna~>d, Fhght u<.'ut<.'nants J Ellis DFC and E. Bolger DFC were not injured. The aorcrah was subsequently refurbiShed at 3 Aircraft Depot and brought back tnto S<.'rvoce Th<.' second incident, in June 1971, resulted in the deaths of Squadron leader Fisher and Flight Ueutenant Wartng when their aorcraft crashed onto the S<.'a at Evans Head, New South Wales, durtng a practice bombong mJSSion. F-lliC aircraft allolted to 6 Squadron arroved at Amberley on I June 1973, with the Squadron Oying olS first sorto<.'S on 13 June. The Squadron operated in the mantime strike role on Excrcosc 'Kangaroo I' during June 1974 and commenced overseas deployments on 4 November 1975 when four aircraft d<.'ployed to Ohakca, New Zealand for Exercise 'TasmaneJ< 75'. 6 Squadron ov<.'rsea~ deployments included 'Lone Rangers' to Bulterworth and the rcconnaissanc<.' variant (Rf·lliC) new to the United States for exercis<.'S with the best tactical rcconllniss.oncc squadrons of the USAF. These activitit1S were not without loss. On 28 April 1977 an aircraft was lost near Cuyra, New South Wales and on 29 September another aircraft was struck by n pelican whilst on a low level bombing run at Evans Head. As a result, the aircraft crashed and burned, killing Squadron leader J.P. Holt and Flight Lieutenant A.P.W. Noordink. During the- night of 6 April 1987, Flight Lieutenant M. FaUon and Pilot Officer W. Pike were killed whcll their aircraft, on a simulated low level bombing mission, crashed ncar Tentcrfocld, New South Wales. During June 1982, a survey Oight was formed under the command of Squadron leader D.C. Ireland. Equopped with a leased learjet on 23 July 1982. the Survey Flight operated from and over Biak. Fiji, Butterworth. Darwin and south-eastern Australia, before bemg disbanded on 15 May 1987. 6 Squadron's RF-IIIC and F-IIIC ali'Craft have deployed as far afield as the United States to partiCipate tn the World Reconmussance Air Meet 19 20 competillon, Butterworth, Gu~m and New Zealand, and will be a potent strike ~in:raft in the RAAF inventory until the 21st century.