Workhorse - RAAF C-130s - E17 - HADR and ABNOPS in the 1965-75 Era

11/30/23 • 19 min

This episode covers Airborne Operations training and development in the 1965-75 era. Of note, the Australian Army's return to mass airdrop was initiated by 6RAR and supported by 36SQN in this era.
Also covered is the role of Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, along with a look at some of the HADR Operations of that era in places like Indonesia and PNG.

Previous Episode

Workhorse - RAAF C-130s - E16 - Early 1970s SE Asian Ops - Ian Frame

This Episode features guest Ian Frame. He covers RAAF C-130 operations in South East Asia from 1971 - 1975 (mostly Apr 1975). The operations discussed include:

Weapons delivery to Cambodia in 1971
Non-combatant Evacuation Operations at Phan Rang
Operation Babylift
HADR flights to An Thoi
Evacuation of the Australian Embassy in Saigon
HADR flights to Laos

Next Episode

Workhorse - RAAF C-130s - E18 - Floods, Hay Bales, and Tracy - with Tony Ryan

Retired Warrant Officer and Flight Engineer Tony Ryan features in this episode which focuses on domestic Australian Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the early 1970s.
The large-scale floods of early 1971 and 1974 rivalled the floods of 2022. The ADF response was wide-ranging, including major commitments by RAAF C-130s and the introduction of hay bale dropping.
Cyclones Althea (one of the biggest to ever hit Townsville) and Tracy (devastated Darwin) are also covered. In particular, the Cyclone Tracy response involved 19 C-130s and included very long crew days and a few interesting tales.