Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), formed March 1921, is the aerial warfare branch of the Australian Defence Force. It directly continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF provides support across a spectrum of operations such as air superiority, precision strikes, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, air mobility, and humanitarian support.
The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts. During the Second World War a number of RAAF bomber, fighter, reconnaissance and other squadrons served initially in Britain, and with the Desert Air Force located in North Africa and the Mediterranean, while the majority were later primarily deployed in the South West Pacific Area. Thousands of Australians also served with other Commonwealth air forces in Europe. By the time the war ended, a total of 216,900 men and women served in the RAAF, of whom 10,562 were killed in action.
Later the RAAF served in the Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Malayan Emergency, Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation and Vietnam War. More recently, the RAAF has participated in operations in East Timor, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and the military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The RAAF has 259 aircraft, of which 110 are combat aircraft.
The RAAF traces its history back to the Imperial Conference held in London in 1911, where it was decided aviation should be developed within the armed forces of the British Empire. Australia implemented this decision, the first dominion to do so, by approving the establishment of the "Australian Aviation Corps", which initially consisted of the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, on 22 October 1912. By 1914 the corps was known as the "Australian Flying Corps".
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