50 years since RAAF went to Vietnam War
Fifty years ago, the Australian air force joined the Vietnam War for a seven-year involvement that would shape the organisation's future.
While the world focuses on the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, past and present Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) members gathered on Friday to remember the first landing in Vietnam on August 8, 1964.
The RAAF sent transporters, helicopters and bombers to Vietnam. It boasted 750 personnel in the combat zone at one stage and suffered 14 casualties.
"The lessons of the Vietnam War still resonate with air force today," Air Commodore Warren McDonald said before the reuniting of veterans at Coffs Harbour.
"Our seven years in Vietnam illustrated the necessity of training to face a modern battlefield environment, and the importance of close co-operation with allied partners."
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