Roulettes

Roulettes Air Training Wing CFS Royal Australian Air Force
RAAF Roulettes aerobatic team at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix
Active	1970 – present
Country	Australia
Branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Type	Aerobatic display team
Size	Seven pilots
Garrison/HQ	RAAF Central Flying School (CFS) RAAF Base East Sale, Victoria
Colors	Red and White
Insignia
Identification symbol
Aircraft flown
Trainer	7 Pilatus PC-9 aircraft

The Roulettes are the Royal Australian Air Force's formation aerobatic display team. They provide about 150 flying displays a year, in Australia and in friendly countries around the South-east Asian region. The Roulettes form part of the RAAF Central Flying School (CFS) at RAAF Base East Sale, Victoria.

The Central Flying School formed its first official aerobatic team in 1962, the Red Sales, using De Havilland Vampire jet fighters. On 15 August 1962 the team was involved in a major incident with the loss of five lives and four aircraft. The Telstars were formed in Feb 1963 still using Vampire aircraft. They were re-equipped with Macchi MB-326 aircraft in Feb 1968, but were disbanded in Apr 1968 due to budget restraints.

In 1970, the Roulettes were formed to celebrate the RAAF's 50th anniversary to be held throughout the year of 1971. The Roulettes first air show was at Point Cook in Dec 1970. Their last air show using the Macchi was at Lakes Entrance in June 1989. Initially, they were equipped with four Macchis, growing to five aircraft in 1974 and seven in 1981 before cost-cutting saw the team reduced to five again in 1982. Towards the end of the 1980s, the Roulettes flying hours had to be reduced as the MB-326 fleet developed premature metal fatigue problems and a replacement aircraft type was investigated. In 1989, with the new Pilatus PC-9 trainers starting to arrive and MB-326 airframe hours severely limited, the Roulettes flew just a single pair of Macchis. The Roulettes switched over to the new PC-9s in late 1989, and arrived at the composition they have used ever since: six PC-9s plus a spare.

The aircraft are painted in the bold red, white and blue scheme, with a large "R" symbol on the tail. The RAAF has since adopted this scheme (minus the "R") for all its PC-9 trainers, except for the PC-9s at ARDU and FAC, which allows an aircraft to be swapped into or out of the team to equalise fleet airframe hours by just repainting the tail.