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9 Squadron

In November 1967 a 9 Squadron Iroquois lands to pick up members of the 7th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment

In November 1967 a 9 Squadron Iroquois lands to pick up members of the 7th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) during operation Santa Fe, a gruelling three week-long operation through inhospitable country some 23 kilometres from the Task Force Base at Nui Dat. [AWM COL/67/1127/VN]

A second RAAF service began in Vietnam on 3 May 1966 when an advance party from No. 9 Squadron arrived at Vung Tau. The squadron’s helicopters arrived on 6 June aboard HMAS Sydney and were flown to Vung Tau that day before moving to Nui Dat at the end of the month.

No. 9 Squadron’s helicopters carried out a variety of roles in Vietnam. Most important were the transport of infantry and logistic support, but the helicopters were also used to drop leaflets over enemy territory. Some were also used in aerial spraying to rid the base of mosquitoes and, more aggressively, to kill vegetative growth around the base and to destroy agricultural plots in Viet Cong territory, denying the enemy a source of food.

Just two months after the squadron’s arrival in Vietnam, two pilots were called on to drop ammunition to the beleaguered troops of D Company, 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, at Long Tan. Flying in appalling weather at tree-top height; they dropped ammunition to the soldiers on the ground through driving rain and under intense Viet Cong fire. The squadron operated again that night, after the battle, to retrieve the wounded, guided only by the light emanating from the open hatches of armoured personnel carriers.

No. 9 Squadron was re-equipped with larger Iroquois helicopters in 1967. Now equipped with 16 helicopters, the squadron worked in conjunction with aircraft of the Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam and United States forces, on the dangerous tasks of transporting men to and from patrols and evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield. On some occasions these operations ended with the death of helicopter crewmen and the destruction of the aircraft.

The last members of 9 Squadron left Vung Tau on 17 December 1971. Six squadron members were killed on operations, and another man, attached to the squadron from No. 1 Operational Support Unit, was also killed.

An Australian soldier of 5RAR wounded by a booby trap during Operation Beaumaris is lifted onto a 9 Squadron Iroquois
The 9 Squadron badge
The view from the cockpit of a 9 Squadron Iroquois. Flying ahead is another Iroquois, also of 9 Squadron
An Irquois of 9 Squadron in flight - head on view
Soldiers run towards a waiting Iroquois
A 9 Squadron door gunner prepares to fire his M60 machine gun as South Vietnamese soldiers run towards his helicopter
yellow smoke rises from the ground, indicating the location of the landing zone
Pilot Officer Michael Haxell at the controls of an Iroquois
The cockpit of a 9 Squadron Iroquois
An Iroquois flies supplies to an Australian patrol in the Nui Dinh mountains

Related content

PDF icon 'Iroquois fly in farewell' (pdf 485.24 KB) (485.24 KB)

No. 9 Squadron RAAF left Australia for Vietnam in June 1966. This issue of RAAF News featured a story on the squadron and a photograph of its pilots who went on to provide invaluable support to the Australian Task Force. [RAAF News, vol. 8, No. 5, June 1966, front page. AWM RC07157]

PDF icon 'They're home' (pdf 273.53 KB) (273.53 KB)

Six years after beginning operations in Vietnam, 9 Squadron returned to Australia in 1971. [RAAF News vol. 14, No. 1 Jan-Feb, 1972, Front Page. AWM RC07161]

Operation Hawkesbury

RAAF helicopter support for Operation ‘Hawkesbury’ In September 1968 No. 9 Squadron helicopters airlifted members of the 1st and 4th Battalions, Royal Australian Regiment (1 & 4 RAR) to an area north of the Task Force base at Nui Dat for Operation Hawkesbury. [AWM F02737]

In September 1968 No. 9 Squadron helicopters airlifted members of the 1st and 4th Battalions, Royal Australian Regiment (1 & 4 RAR) to an area north of the Task Force base at Nui Dat for Operation Hawkesbury. This film shows the assembled infantry running to board the helicopters for the flight to their landing zone and includes interesting shots of the aircraft in flight over the jungle. Iroquois such as these were the workhorses of the Vietnam War, their value in moving troops to and from operations is well documented. In this operation, carried out amidst thick vegetation in which landing zones were few, the infantry were told resupply would be kept to a minimum. Each man carried four days rations, an emergency ration, four full waterbottles and ammunition.

Dust off, interview with Pilot Officer

'Dust off', interview with Pilot Officer Michael Haxell who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for two emergency extractions of Australian troops in the face of heavy enemy fire in August 1967. [AWM F04725]

Pilot Officer Michael Haxell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for two emergency extractions of Australian troops in the face of heavy enemy fire in August 1967. Aged 24 when he began his ten month tour of Vietnam, Haxell was, at the time, 9 Squadron’s youngest pilot. In this clip he speaks to an interviewer about flying casualty evacuations, known as ‘dust-offs’, during 1967. Footage of such operations complement the interview.

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