After 45 years of proud service, the Air Force DHC-4 Caribou will retire at the end of this year. The oldest, A4-140, is being handed over to the Australian War Memorial on Friday this week.

 

RAAF took delivery of its first Caribou in April 1964.  Operated by Number 38 Squadron, based in Townsville, the Caribou has supported ADF operations throughout the South West Pacific and in South East Asia.

 

It has seen active service in Vietnam, humanitarian relief in Kashmir, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, and has also supported peacekeeping operations in Solomon Islands and East Timor.

 

Its retirement was brought forward due to age-related factors including corrosion, fatigue and obsolescence issues, which made the aircraft increasingly difficult and costly to maintain.

 

A4-152 has accumulated 20,360 flying hours, and was delivered to RAAF Richmond on 13 June, 1964 with two others. The oldest, A4-140, is being handed over to the Australian War Memorial on Friday. The Caribous were the first RAAF aircraft deployed to Vietnam and the last to withdraw. A4-152 served in Vietnam October 1967 to September 1968.  It was severely damaged in an accident in Vietnam and was shipped home for repairs to Bankstown. Its operations after repair included in Sumatra in 1971, with the UN in 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and survey flights in West Irian in 1976. The aircraft served on humanitarian support missions in the Solomons in 1980 and 2003 and on peacekeeping missions in East Timor in 1999.

 

A future Tactical Battlefield Airlift capability is being procured through Project Air 8000 Phase 2, with a scheduled in-service date of 2013.  In the meantime, No. 38 SQN will operate up to eight Hawker Pacific King Air light transport aircraft.