Boeing CH-47 Chinook in Australian service

Boeing CH-47 Chinook in Australian service
An Australian Army CH-47D lifting a front loader in Afghanistan during 2012
Role	Heavy-lift helicopter
Manufacturer	Boeing
Primary user	Royal Australian Air Force and Australian Army
Number built	12 CH-47C, 8 CH-47D, 10 CH-47F
Career
In service	1974–89, 1995–present

The Australian Defence Force has operated Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for most of the period from 1974. Twelve CH-47C Chinooks were acquired initially, entering service with the Royal Australian Air Force in December 1974. The eleven surviving aircraft were retired in 1989 as a cost-saving measure, but it was found that the Australian Defence Force's other helicopters could not emulate their capabilities. As a result, four of the CH-47Cs were upgraded to CH-47D status, and returned to service in 1995 with the Australian Army. The Army acquired two more CH-47Ds in 2000 and another pair in 2012. The CH-47Ds were replaced with seven new CH-47F aircraft during 2015, and another three were delivered in 2016.

The Chinooks have mainly been used to support Army units in Australian service, though they have performed a wide range of other tasks. Three Chinooks took part in the Iraq War during 2003, when they supported Australian special forces. A detachment of two Chinooks was also deployed to Afghanistan during the northern spring and summer months for each year between 2006 and 2013, when they saw extensive combat. Two of the CH-47s deployed to Afghanistan were destroyed as a result of crashes.

During the early years of the 1960s the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) considered new types of tactical transport aircraft to replace the RAAF's obsolete Douglas Dakotas. The Army wanted a simple and rugged aircraft that could be purchased immediately for this role, and pressed for the acquisition of de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribous. However, the RAAF regarded the Caribou as inadequate for this role and preferred to acquire a more sophisticated aircraft type, leading to delays in the selection process.

This disagreement came to an end in September 1962, when as part of the expansion of the military in response to Indonesia's policy of "confrontation" with its neighbours, the RAAF was directed by the government to conduct an urgent evaluation of short takeoff and landing aircraft and heavy-lift helicopters, which could be purchased to improve the Army's tactical mobility. A team of seven RAAF officers headed by Group Captain Charles Read, the director of operational requirements, was dispatched to the United States and assessed the Sikorsky S-61, Vertol 107-II and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The team judged the Chinook to be clearly the most suitable of these types, and recommended that several be acquired; this was in line with the Army's preference. The government subsequently accepted a recommendation made by the RAAF to acquire a package of twelve Caribou fixed-wing aircraft and eight Chinooks, and placed an order for these aircraft within weeks of the evaluation being ordered. The Chinook order was subsequently cancelled by the government when it was learned that it would take several years for the helicopters to be delivered, and the RAAF's orders of Caribous and Bell UH-1 Iroquois tactical transport helicopters were instead expanded.

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Wikipedia