The RAAF began its service in the Vietnam War on 8 August, 1964, where three Caribou aircraft of the RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam landed at Vung Tau. On 1 June, 1966, the flight was renamed No 35 Squadron. For many veterans, however, the squadron will forever be remembered as ‘Wallaby Airlines’. The bulk of the 35 Squadron’s operations in Vietnam were known as ‘milk runs’, one to the North and one to the South, to drop supplies at American special forces camps and to members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam across the Central Highlands. Coupled with this already demanding workload, 35 Squadron routinely carried out wide – ranging unscheduled daily tasks, allocated at short notice, including transporting military and civilian passengers, medical evacuations, and delivering mail or general cargo. A second RAAF service began in Vietnam on 3 May, 1966, when an advance party from No 9 Squadron arrived at Vung Tau. No 9 Squadron’s helicopters carried out a variety of roles in Vietnam. Some of the most important roles were the transport of infantry and logistic support, but the helicopters were also used to drop leaflets over enemy territory. Some helicopters were also used in aerial spraying to rid the base of mosquitoes and to kill vegetable growth around the agricultural plots in Viet Cong territory. The RAAF sent No 2 Squadron to Vietnam in April 1967. Equipped with Canberra bombers, No 2 Squadron operated day and night missions destroying a wide range of infrastructure targets as well as attacking Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops.
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