No. 35 Squadron RAAF

No. 35 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) transport unit. First formed in 1942, No. 35 Squadron served during World War II, transporting cargo and passengers around Australia, New Guinea and the Netherlands East Indies, operating a variety of aircraft including the Douglas Dakota. It was disbanded after the war, but was later re-raised in the 1960s for service during the Vietnam War, flying transportation and resupply operations in support of Australian and US forces. After the conclusion of the conflict, the squadron converted to rotary-wing aircraft, serving in both the transportation and gunship roles. In the late 1980s, the squadron returned to the fixed-wing transport role operating DHC-4 Caribous. It ceased operations in 2000, but was re-raised in January 2013. It will begin operations flying C-27 Spartan transports in 2015.

World War II
No. 35 Squadron was formed at RAAF Base Pearce on 11 March 1942, under the command of Flight Lieutenant Percival Burdeu, as a transport squadron. After moving to Maylands, the squadron's operations were restricted to flying only within Western Australia as it was equipped with just one de Havilland Dragon and a de Havilland Fox Moth. Later during the year, the squadron was expanded with an assortment of aircraft including de Havilland Moth Minors, Fairey Battles, de Havilland Tiger Moths, an Avro Anson, a de Havilland Dragon Rapide and a Northrop Delta. In August 1943, the squadron was moved back to Pearce, where it was re-equipped with Douglas Dakotas; following this its operations were extended to cover all of Australia.

During the later years of the war the squadron provided air transport to the Australian military throughout the South West Pacific area, operating out of Guildford, Western Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, and Cape York. In the final years of the war, detachments operated out of Darwin, Northern Territory, Townsville, Queensland, and later Morotai Island. Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, No. 35 Squadron flew Australian soldiers and ex-prisoners of war home. In early 1946, it supported the movement of No. 81 (Fighter) Wing to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. The squadron was disbanded at Townsville on 10 June 1946.

Vietnam and after
On 1 June 1966, the RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (RTFV), which had been formed for operations in Vietnam in July 1964, was redesignated No. 35 Squadron at Vung Tau in South Vietnam. Assigned to the 834th Air Division, Seventh Air Force, and operating DHC-4 Caribous, the reformed squadron operated cargo, passenger and medevac flights throughout South Vietnam in support of Australian, South Vietnamese and United States forces. During its time in Vietnam the squadron was nicknamed "Wallaby Airlines", in reference to its callsign "Wallaby". Despite not being employed in an offensive role, the squadron's aircraft were regularly called upon to fly into dangerous areas of the conflict zone, often at low level, and on a number of occasions the Caribous were fired upon and aircrew wounded.

By June 1971, the squadron's complement of aircraft was reduced from seven to four as a part of the draw down of Australia's forces in Vietnam; as a result of requirements for maintenance, however, only two aircraft were operational at any one time after this. No. 35 Squadron flew its last operation on 13 February 1972 and departed South Vietnam for RAAF Base Richmond in Australia on 19 February 1972; it was the last RAAF unit to leave following the decision to withdraw. During the five years that it was deployed, the squadron lost two aircraft destroyed in accidents, the result of poor weather and the difficult nature of some of the landing grounds that the squadron's Caribous were required to use when supporting isolated garrisons. Another aircraft was destroyed from Viet Cong mortar fire, being struck while conducting a resupply mission at That Son in 1970.

Although its work was not glamorous, the squadron developed a good reputation among the US air commanders as an efficient and effective unit, achieving a record that prompted US commanders to send personnel to the squadron to study their techniques. For their involvement in operations in Vietnam, members of the squadron received a number of honours and decorations including two appointments to the Member of the Order of British Empire, eight Distinguished Flying Crosses, one Distinguished Flying Medal, one British Empire Medal, and 36 Mentions in Despatches.

In 1974, No. 35 Squadron was relocated north to RAAF Base Townsville, where it operated in support of Army units based in Northern Australia. In early 1977 the squadron's role was expanded when it was equipped with four UH-1 Iroquois helicopters in addition to its Caribous, making it the only RAAF squadron to ever be simultaneously equipped with rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. These aircraft were employed in a multitude of roles including support to the local community in the form of flood relief, medevac and search and rescue operations. No. 35 Squadron's role was further expanded in November 1986 when it was issued with gunship variants of the UH-1, which it received when No. 9 Squadron RAAF converted to flying Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.

In November 1989, No. 35 Squadron reverted to a purely fixed-wing role when responsibility for flying the UH-1 helicopters was transferred to the Australian Army. Operating eight Caribous, the squadron continued to provide tactical transport to Army units based in Northern Australia until 2000, when it was reduced to "paper only" status and its aircraft transferred to No. 38 Squadron.

On 14 January 2013, No. 35 Squadron was re-raised under the command of Wing Commander Brad Clarke as an element of No. 84 Wing. A skeleton organisation, the squadron will expand to approximately 250 personnel by 2015, when it will begin operating the RAAF's ten Alenia C-27J Spartan transport aircraft. The squadron is based at RAAF Base Richmond.

Aircraft operated
No. 35 Squadron operated the following aircraft:
 * de Havilland Fox Moth (1942–1943);
 * de Havilland Dragon (1942–1943);
 * de Havilland Moth Minor (1942–1943);
 * Fairey Battle (1942–1943);
 * de Havilland Tiger Moth (1942–1943);
 * Avro Anson (1942–1943);
 * de Havilland Dragon Rapide (1942–1943);
 * Northrop Delta (1942–1943);
 * Douglas Dakota (1943–1946);
 * de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou (1966–2000);
 * Bell UH-1 Iroquois (1977–1989) and
 * C-27J Spartan (2015–)