No 35 Squadron, known as 'Wallaby Airlines', provided essential transport during the Vietnam War. Operating Caribou aircraft, they delivered critical supplies across hazardous terrain. Despite the dangers posed by enemy fire and substandard airstrips, the squadron's logistical support was vital to Australian and allied personnel.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) began its service in the Vietnam War on 8 August 1964, when 3 RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam Caribou aircraft landed at Vung Tau base. The remaining 3 aircraft of the flight arrived on 29 August.
While the RAAF personnel were settling in at Vung Tau base, 2 RAAF Caribous carried out Australia's first operational mission of the Vietnam War. On 14 August 1964, they flew from Vung Tau to Tan Son Nhut, and then up to Pleiku in the Central Highlands.
On 1 June 1966, the status of the flight was raised, and it was renamed No 35 (Transport) Squadron. For many veterans, however, the squadron was remembered as 'Wallaby Airlines'.
The bulk of the 35 Squadron's operations in the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) were known as 'milk runs'. They were routine, and by implication, relatively safe flights. One route to the north and one to the south, on alternate days for 6 days a week. They dropped supplies at United States (US) special forces camps and to members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) 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
- delivering mail or general cargo, such as food, fuel, livestock, ammunition and spare parts.
Although they sound safe, 'milk runs' involved certain dangers.
Airfields at special forces outposts, where the Caribous often landed, were usually outside the camp's perimeter. Attacks on the aircraft in the dangerous moments of take-off and landing were always possible, but even where the enemy was absent the airfields' location and condition could prove hazardous.
For 35 Squadron pilots, there was little margin for error. Some airstrips were just a few metres longer than the minimum needed for a Caribou to take off. Others eroded under the flooding monsoon rains. More than one 35 Squadron Caribou crashed on these remote landing strips.
After 1966, the squadron's workload increased further with the opening of Luscombe Field at Nui Dat. The 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base there was part of the Caribous' regular run and work with the 1ATF became a regular feature of the squadron's operations.
Corporal Keith Bosley, No 35 Squadron RAAF, in a Caribou, Pleiku Province, 1966. He's tying in a load of 4 cows destined for Nha Trang. 35 Squadron's Caribou carried an amazing assortment of freight around South Vietnam and the crew found cows no more difficult to handle than baby elephants.
Crash landing at A Ro
Enemy fire was not the only hazard faced by the crews of No 35 Squadron in South Vietnam. Remote and barely serviceable airstrips posed their own dangers as these documents suggest.
On 18 November 1964, Flying Officer Brian Hammond, unable to drop supplies while airborne, attempted to land at A Ro, a special forces camp in remote country near the Laotian border.
With his windscreen covered in mud, Hammond veered off the runway, crashing the aircraft but delivering much-needed supplies to the beleaguered troops on the ground.
Parts of the aircraft were salvaged, but much of the fuselage was left at the site where it was later used as part of an observation and briefing post.
Such incidents were relatively common. During the course of 35 Squadron's involvement in the war, from an operational strength of 13 aircraft, about 20 were hit by ground fire or mortars or crashed on operations.
