RAAF Base East Sale

RAAF Base East Sale is one of the main training establishments of the Royal Australian Air Force, including where Australian Air Force Cadets have their annual General Service Training. It is home to the Roulettes aerobatic team. It is also now the home of the RAAF's Officers' Training School (OTS) following its relocation from Point Cook Base. East Sale was upgraded to house the new OTS, which had its first intake of students in January 2008.

History
RAAF Base East Sale opened as a training base on 22 April 1943. Initially, the base was home to No.1 Operational Training Unit (1 OTU) equipped with Bristol Beaufort light bomber aircraft, relocated from airfields at West Sale and Bairnsdale. The base was primarily responsible for training air crew, but units from East Sale also operated in some convoy protection and maritime surveillance roles. Over 3,000 aircrew were trained at the base between its opening and the end of World War II. In addition to the Beauforts, a variety of different aircraft types were operated from the base during this time, including the Lockheed Hudson on which future Prime Minister of Australia Edward Gough Whitlam undertook training as a navigator. Other types used by 1 OTU included Airspeed Oxfords and Fairey Battles.

Following the war, the RAAF Central Flying School was relocated from RAAF Base Point Cook to East Sale in 1947. By 1953, the school had received its first De Havilland Vampire jet aircraft. In 1962, four Vampire jets from CFS at East Sale formed "The Red Sales" aerobatic display team. However while practising aerobatic routines on 15 August, all four Red Sales crashed in formation after failing to recover from a manoeuvre, killing six Central Flying School staff. Six months later, a second display team, "The Telstars" was formed, also flying Vampires and later Aermacchi MB-326 (Macchi) jets. The display team was disbanded in May 1968 due to budget constraints and a shortage of available Macchi airframes. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force, the current Roulettes aerobatic display team was formed in 1970, initially operating Mscchi MB-326s.

On 24 November 1987, the first two of 67 Pilatus PC-9 aircraft for the RAAF arrived at East Sale. This would become the primary aircraft used by the Central Flying School until the present.

On 1 July 1989, 32 Squadron - formerly a bomber and reconnaissance unit during World War II - was reactivated at East Sale and equipped with Hawker Siddeley HS 748s. These aircraft were operated on general transport and training duties, including Airborne Electronics Analyst training. By June 2004, the squadron had completed conversion to new Beechcraft King Air 350 equipment.

In 1992, the RAAF restructured its flight training programs, handing responsibility for ab-initio training and screening to civilian contractors and retiring its fleet of CT-4 aircraft. The successful bidder to operate the Basic Flight Training School was the Ansett/BAe Systems Flight Training College at Tamworth, New South Wales using new build and ex-Australian and New Zealand Airforce CT-4s. As the RAAF's primary training facility, BAe Systems also bases four of its aircraft at East Sale for training military flight instructors.

Today it remains the RAAF's primary training base, operating continuously in this role since 1943.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 29 October 1991 a 33 Squadron Boeing 707 crashed into the sea 43 km south of RAAF Base East Sale while on a training flight. The aircraft stalled after an asymmetric flight condition was mishandled, causing an unrecoverable loss of control. All five RAAF crew were killed in the accident, which was the largest aircraft to crash in Australia at the time.