No. 97 Wing RAAF
No. 97 Wing was a temporary formation established on 24 October 1997 to command the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) elements deployed for drought relief purposes to Papua New Guinea during . It was led by Wing Commander Chris Richards, who was also the commander of the Air Component of Joint Task Force 105 which had been established for this operation.[1]
The size of the Air Component varied over time, but the RAAF aircraft assigned to it typically included two Lockheed C-130 Hercules and three de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou transport aircraft. The Air Component usually also included three Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk and two Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters provided by the Australian Army, and was staffed by around 100 personnel.[1]
All of the aircraft assigned to Operation Ples Drai returned to Australia in April 1998.[2]
References[]
- Citations
- ^ a b Bullard 2017, p. 257.
- ^ Bullard 2017, p. 271.
- Works consulted
Bullard, Steven (2017). In their Time of Need: Australia's Overseas Emergency Relief Operations 1918-2006. Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-02634-6.
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