Thread: 100 years of Australian military flying

Let's get this right. Those flying squadrons were Army up until 1926 when the RAAF was actually formed.

More accurately, Australian military flying started in October 1912 with the forming of the Central Flying School, which became the Australian Flying Corps in 1914, part of the Australian army.

This became the separate RAAF on the 22nd March 1921, not 1926.

John

Sorry, yes it was 1921 but still Army.

Originally Posted by carlschmid2002

Let's get this right. Those flying squadrons were Army up until 1926 when the RAAF was actually formed.

The 8 AFC squadrons in WW1 were part of the AIF, but were attached to the British Royal Flying Corps/ Royal Air Force squadrons. Whilst many of the men joined the AFC from the Army, technically, the AFC was a separate entity.



By the standards of military aviation, the Royal Australian Air Force has an unusually long history. It is one of the world's oldest independent air forces, having been established in 1921, three years after the first, the (British) Royal Air Force.

Military aviation first took wing in Australia when Central Flying School was formed at Point Cook in 1912, only nine years after Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful controlled, powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Central Flying School grew quickly into the Australian Flying Corps.

By 1914 Australian pilots had been dispatched on active service to New Guinea, to help seize German colonies. One year later, the Australian Flying Corps was fighting in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq); and by the end of World War 1, four Australian squadrons were in action on the Western Front in France.

While officially the Australian Flying Corps' main role was army co-operation, its squadrons inevitably became involved in air to air combat and bombing attacks, as the full potential of the air weapon became apparent. Australian fighter pilot A.H. Cobby, for example, was credited with 29 kills, making him one of the war's leading aces

Chapter 1: Two airmen | 100 Years of Anzac

The AFC's first operational flight consisted of an Aussie, and you guessed it, a Kiwi. And surprise, surprise, it was in Mesopotamia, or as we call it today, Iraq.

Chapter 2: From Point Cook to Kut | 100 Years of Anzac

Over the Holy Land. Australia was the only Dominion to form its own flying corp at this time. Also, the first , and only VC for the AFC,

Chapter 3: Australians over the Holy Lands | 100 Years of Anzac

The Western Front,
" Each battle plane was worth the equivalent in fighting value to 2,000 men."

Chapter 4: The Western Front | 100 Years of Anzac

Still army