9 SQN The First Era

1925 – December 1944

The history of No. 9 Squadron RAAF and its precursor Units can be categorised into four distinct ‘eras’ of the Squadrons’ operational life: the fleet co-operation squadrons just described; the era of the Iroquois from 1962 to 1971; the post-Vietnam war era between 1972 and 1989; and the current iteration of the squadron operating the MQ-4C Triton. The squadron motto Videmus Nec Videmur (We See Without Being Seen), remains a very appropriate motto for the squadron in its maritime Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance tasking using the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton.

In this series we will cover all four eras of 9 Squadron RAAF.

The Australian Air Force was created by Government on 31 March 1921, assuming the prefix of ‘Royal’ a few months later. Before 1921 the Australian Flying Corps of the Army was the main proponent of military aviation in Australia, with considerable initiative shown by the RAN in operating aircraft from warships. This initiative faltered in 1923, but some experience was gained using aircraft to support hydrographic survey of the Great Barrier Reef off the far north coast of Queensland.

In 1925, the Government opted to build a seaplane carrier for the Navy and ordered 6 Seagull Mk. III aircraft to equip the vessel.

No. 101 Fleet Co-operation Flight

No. 101 Fleet Co-operation Flight RAAF was formed at Point Cook, Victoria, on 01 July 1925 to operate three of the 6 Seagull Mk. III seaplanes ordered by the Government. Following arrival by ship in April 1926, the six Seagull Mk III amphibians (A9-1 to A9-6) were erected and test flown at RAAF Point Cook and allotted to 101 FC FLT. They used the Yacht Club on the foreshore as a base, and a hangar-like 3 bay shed was built to accommodate three aircraft with their wings folded. Adjacent working facilities were also established. Three of these aircraft were deployed to Bowen, QLD in August 1926 and subsequently in that month, No. 101 Fleet Co-operation Flight began land-based operations supporting the Great Barrier Reef survey.

In January 1928, Cabinet declined the continuation of the RAN Fleet Air Arm. RAAF was to provide the aircraft pilots and maintenance personnel for the new seaplane carrier with the RAN to provide observers and telegraphists although naval officers, until the 1930’s, could still undertake pilot training. Thus, the subsequent RAAF and RAN manning for the various ships’ and aircraft detachments. Navy had Operational Control of the embarked RAAF aircraft.

The seaplane tender HMAS Albatross was launched at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney on 23 February 1928 and land-based Seagull Mk. III operations continued from Bowen until December that year. HMAS Albatross was commissioned in Sydney on 23 January 1929.

101 FC Flight (personnel and stores) which had returned from Bowen, QLD to Point Cook, VIC embarked on HMAS Albatross on Port Phillip Bay on 21 February 1929. At Geelong, on 25 February 1929, the six Seagull Mk. III amphibian aircraft were hoisted aboard HMAS Albatross.

The Flight operated from HMAS ALBATROSS over some four years (between 1929 and 1933) with some time at RAAF Base Richmond, NSW until 23 April 1933, when the ship was ‘paid off’ into the Reserve Fleet reserve due to RAN cruisers having developed a seaplane operating capability.

The RAAF ordered 24 Seagull Mk. V aircraft in 1934 to perform fleet co-operation and other roles, these aircraft having a metal hull and were strengthened for catapult launching.

Aircraft

The aircraft types operated were the Supermarine Seagull III and Seagull V. The RAAF identified this generic family as ‘Seagull’, whereas British forces termed them ‘Walrus’. At times, replacement aircraft were borrowed from other forces, hence intermingling of the aircraft terminology.

The earlier Seagull III had a propeller forward of the engine and the aircraft was lowered and recovered from the sea by a shipboard crane. The Seagull V had a pusher propeller and was strengthened for catapult launch, although still requiring recovery onboard ship by crane.

24 Seagull V aircraft were built especially for the RAAF and all had silver livery.

The airframe A2-4 had historically significant operational service with what would be No. 9 Fleet Co-operation Squadron between 1937 and 1944 on HMAS Australia, Sydney and Perth. It became VH-ALB from 1960-1972 and was seen airborne in the early 1960’s in light blue livery. It was then privately owned, suffered damage during a forced landing in 1970 and was finally traded with the RAF Museum for a Spitfire (sadly forfeiting some very significant 9SQN historical value). Unfortunately, some historical accuracy had also been sacrificed through painting of the aircraft in an RAF camouflage that was inappropriate for Seagull Vs which were only operated by the RAAF . The forward mounted machine gun is not apparent in any photography of Seagull Vs in Australian archives although some British aircraft were so armed.

Following the initial purchase of 24 Seagull Vs, the British decided to manufacture the aircraft for their own needs and termed it the Walrus with differing versions being produced. The RAAF ultimately acquired 27 Walrus aircraft which were operated by 13 different Units with some being replacements for Seagull V aircraft losses by No. 9 SQN. Walruses operated by the RAAF mostly had RAF/RN livery and retained the aircraft registration numbers allotted by those Services.

There are 8 Battle Honours on the No.9 Squadron Standard, although the Unit participated in a number of actions while embarked on warships that were accorded other Battle Honours not reflected on the Standard. Some of these actions involved loss of aircraft and personnel.

No. 5 and No. 9 Fleet Co-operation Squadrons RAAF

Formed on 23 April 1936 as No. 5 Fleet Co-operation Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond, NSW, from 101 Flight, the unit operated Supermarine Seagull V amphibians until it was reorganized as No. 9 Squadron RAAF on 1 January 1939. Relocating to RAAF Base Rathmines, NSW, in late 1939, No. 9 Squadron provided aircrews and Seagull V aircraft for Royal Australian Navy cruisers, conducting reconnaissance, gunfire spotting, and anti-submarine patrols.

After war was declared in September 1939, No. 9 Squadron detachments served in the Mediterranean until early 1942. On 23 September 1940, HMAS Australia’s Seagull V was lost off Dakar, likely downed by Vichy French fighters or anti-aircraft fire while spotting during the Royal Navy’s raid to secure Free French control. In the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940, HMAS Sydney’s Seagull V aircrews played a pivotal role in a major naval clash off southern Italy. Launched by catapult, the aircraft scouted the Italian fleet, including two battleships, relaying their position to Sydney and the Allied flagship, HMS Warspite. Flying at low altitudes, the crew braved anti-aircraft fire and potential interception by Italian fighters to provide real-time intelligence. During the engagement, they spotted Sydney’s 6-inch gunfire, radioing corrections that helped land straddling salvos on Italian cruisers, contributing to the enemy’s retreat under smoke cover.

Jack Planck

And we carried an aircraft on board, what they called a pusser’s duck, that’s what they called a Walrus plane, the name of the floatplane. It was hooked up to a crane and all hands would pull her up off the deck and then the guy would be swung out over the ship and she’d be lowered into the water, and she’d go out and search all the areas around, for any submarines and all sorts of boats. Something might be waiting for you somewhere to knock you off. They were air force crew on board Australian ships.

When it was time for them to fly at sea, all hands would be piped on deck and we’d just pick up the ropes and pull and swing the derricks out and lift this plane up and drop her over the side. And then when it came time to come in, she might go out on a reconnaissance, see if there was any submarines or things like that, when it came time to come in, the captain would slew the ship around, make a clear wake for it to come in and land on, instead of rough seas, the ship was ten thousand tons, so it’d swing round and the act of swinging the ship around would calm the seas down and the plane would come and land on that bit of water.

Thomas Fisher

But our aircraft was set up – The old Pussers Duck. It was a Walrus pusher plane with three people in it. The pilot, the observing officer, who was a navy officer and a leading hand telegraphist, sparker, he was a machine gunner and they were doing the spotting for us. Saying, right you’re too far over, you need to lift your range and that. Well three planes attacked them and they turned out to be Royal Air Force planes we found out later. And we were told that the observer in our plane had his forty-five revolver that he was carrying and that he had that out and he was firing at the planes with his forty-five revolver. And anyhow the plane, she fell two thousand feet out of control and the pilot got her under control. This is a plane from the Sydney. They catapulted her off first and he managed to get into Mersa Matruh inside the Egyptian border. Of course when she landed it fell to pieces just collapsed now on the it’s sitting on a catapult and when they’re ready to catapult it the catapult extend expands out it’s extended and it’s fire it’s a big cartridge just ordinary like a blank cartridge full of cordite and it’s about 6 in in diameter that goes in put into a chamber or into a breech and the impulse from that goes into a big chamber which works onto a drum that works a cable and that those cables are hooked onto a part underneath the seaplane and of course when the drum spins around very quickly pulls the pulls the plane off like a catapult so it’s catapult off and when it’s hits the end of the catapult is doing 60 m an hour and it drops a bit towards the water and they pick up and away they go you know.

Oriel Ramsay

Our aircraft, a Walrus amphibious plane, that was doing what they call spotting for our targets. And they’d say, “Right, you know, you’re firing short or you’re firing over.” or something like that. So they, they would, you know, be in touch with the ship, and you know, or shift your target, shift your target there. But anyway, at one stage of the game, there were three, according to me, there were three planes on Malta, the air defence of Malta at that time. They were bi-planes, something a little bit smaller than the Gypsy Moth, you know, the things that we fly around here. And those three were called ‘Faith, Hope and Charity.’ Those planes came over, and the Brits apparently didn’t recognise what the Pusser’s Duck looked like, or belonged to, so they shot it up. The story later on was corrected there, and they reckoned it was an Italian plane that shot them up. But anyway, the old Pusser Duck got shot up, and it staggered away, and it crashed on Mersa Matruh aerodrome, and the crew just got out, and walked away from it.

In the Battle of Calabria the Seagull V’s slow speed (~135 mph) and light armament made these missions perilous, with recovery by crane onto Sydney equally hazardous amid rough seas and air attacks. The battle, though inconclusive, secured an Allied convoy and showcased the aircrews’ courage in bridging air and naval operations.

Off North Africa, Seagull V crews further supported the Western Desert Campaign by spotting for bombardments, despite their aircraft’s vulnerability to enemy fighters and flak.

Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 recalled the RAN cruisers to the Pacific to defend Australia. No. 9 Squadron aircrews shared the sailors’ fate: on 19 November 1941, HMAS Sydney sank with all hands, including six squadron members, after a mysterious clash with the German raider Kormoran. On 8 August 1942, five personnel died and two were wounded when HMAS Canberra was sunk off Guadalcanal. On 1 March 1942, HMAS Perth sank in the Sunda Strait during a fierce Japanese engagement, claiming five aircrews operating its Seagull V. These losses contributed to the squadron’s 22 wartime casualties, most from ship sinkings.

By January 1943, as shipborne amphibians became less critical, No. 9 Squadron relocated to Bowen’s Flying Boat Base, Queensland, with 12 Seagull V aircraft. Operating alongside Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons’ Catalinas, they flew anti-submarine and reconnaissance patrols in the Coral Sea, protecting Allied shipping. As the war’s focus shifted, the squadron’s role diminished, leading to its disbandment at Rathmines on 31 December 1944. No. 9 Squadron’s Seagull V operations, bridging air and naval forces, forged a unique legacy in Australia’s wartime defence.