Heavy Lift
February – March 1965. A Trans Australian Airways (TAA) Otter aircraft forced landed in a swamp about six miles from Aiome near Madang PNG. A 9 Squadron Iroquois helicopter and crew were tasked with recovering the Otter to Aiome. TAA built rafts to help dismantle the Otter in to manageable load for the helicopter, helped by RAAF maintenance crew. The recovery took about a week. The recovery crew sighted crocodiles, snakes, leeches, and flying ants.
april63
April 1963, six of the 9 Squadron RAAF crew who flew two 9 Squadron Iroquois helicopters which rescued 93 people, and dropped food and medicine to isolated homesteads in the Queensland floods. Photo taken on return to RAAF Base Fairbairn ACT. Left to right: Sergeant G Buttriss, Flight Lieutenant K J Taylor, Flight Lieutenant R MacIntosh, Squadron Leader R Scott, Sergeant K Waddling, and Corporal M Henschke.
A2-389
A2-389 Goroka area, PNG, March 1963, written-off January 1985.
63 floods
31 March 1963, eleven people are clinging to the roof of the Adavale Hotel, during floods in south west Queensland. The people were rescued by a 9 Squadron Iroquois helicopter flown by Flight Lieutenant Bob MacIntosh and crew. There were similar rescues over 4 days by RAAF helicopter crews.
A2-383-2
A2-383 at Tapini Airstrip, PNG in early 1974
fairburn4
A line-up of Iroquois UH-1B 300 series helos at RAAF Fairbairn in February 1963
Acr297267408832-289611909
No. 1 Iroquois Helicopter Gunners’ Course, RAAF Base Fairbairn ACT, November 1970.