Since Army helicopters operated at Nui Dat, apparently without difficulty, the RAAF’s case may have seemed unconvincing to some. Whatever the merits of the RAAF’s case, it should have been up to the operational commander to make such decisions and the failure of the RAAF to respond to the Army’s requirements did not help its case for retaining control of the helicopters.
To improve liaison with the task force, the senior RAAF officer from Vung Tau, Group Captain Raw, relocated to the task force headquarters and established an air transport operations centre. However, Group Captain Raw was inexperienced in air/land operations and his relationship with the commander of the ATF was strained. In contrast to the poor relations at headquarters level, however, 9 Squadron established strong rapport with a number of Army units and, despite an inauspicious start, gained a high reputation for its helicopter operations during the war. In particular, relations between 9 Squadron and members of the Australian Special Air Service (SAS) have been described as especially close. The courage and bravery of the RAAF helicopter pilots was widely recognised, notably during the Battle of Long Tan, when they flew urgent supplies to beleaguered Australian Army troops in appalling weather conditions and in the midst of an intense small-arms battle. It is notable that this action, which may have been vital to the success of the battle, was in clear contravention of the Air Staff directive. Nonetheless, damaging rumours about the failure of the RAAF helicopters to support the Army persisted and became accepted as conventional Army wisdom. This could be explained by the environment of strained inter-Service relations, in which any isolated incidents of inadequate support by the RAAF could be taken out of context and used by the Army as leverage in wider political battles.
To meet the demands of the war, the RAAF acquired more helicopters and the number of Iroquois on 9 Squadron was doubled. The rapid expansion of the RAAF’s helicopter fleet required a significant increase in the number of pilots and technicians to support the increased flying effort. As a relatively large air organisation, the RAAF was well placed to absorb the expansion by drawing on other parts of the Service; nonetheless, it had to rely on the supply of pilots from the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the RAN for a short time. In fact, the RAN had already established a helicopter flight in Vietnam, operating with the US Army’s 135th Assault Helicopter Company.
Many ATF operations were also supported by US Army helicopter units and inevitably comparisons were sometimes drawn between the RAAF and the US Army. With a huge fleet of helicopters at its disposal, the US Army was willing to endure losses at a rate that could not have been sustained by a relatively small military force like that of Australia; indeed, many professional airmen considered the US Army’s use of helicopters in Vietnam to be profligate. Nonetheless, the US Army’s wholesale exploitation of helicopters no doubt encouraged some in the Australian Army that there was much to be gained by taking full ownership of the helicopters. Not all comparisons were in the US Army’s favour however. One soldier contrasted the difference between flying in US Army helicopters, flown by young warrant officer pilots, and RAAF helicopters:
There was a remarkable difference in flying US air as opposed to RAAF air. The RAAF had officer pilots and the aircraft looked reasonably serviceable. The choppers we clambered into [US Army] looked tatty and well worn. There were no seats and we sat on the floor of the Iroquois, linking our arms together and praying we wouldn’t fall out where there was normally a door.
Another issue that created friction between the Services was the arming of helicopters. RAAF helicopter operations were sometimes supported by US Army gunship helicopters (modified UH-1 Iroquois), but coordination of gunship missions was difficult and the arrangement was not always entirely satisfactory. Pending acquisition of an Australian helicopter gunship capability, 9 Squadron instituted local modification of its helicopters to provide an interim capability. Suitable armaments, including forward-firing mini-guns, rocket launchers and door-mounted machine guns, were ‘borrowed’ from the US Army and successfully installed on the Iroquois by RAAF technicians. The modifications were very successful and increased the capability of 9 Squadron, but the Army and some members of the RAAF sought a more potent gunship capability in the form of the Bell AH-1 Cobra. The Army presented a cogent case in favour of the Cobra, but the Air Staff insisted that the modified Iroquois were satisfactory. The RAAF’s willingness to accept a second rate solution for its helicopter requirements was in stark contrast to its attitude towards fixed-wing aircraft, where the need to always acquire leading edge technology had been firmly established. Although the gunship order was later cancelled, the RAAF’s attitude towards Army requirements no doubt added to the Army’s dissatisfaction with helicopter support from the RAAF.
The 1970s and 80s
By the mid-1970s, the RAAF’s fleet of helicopters had grown to two and a half squadrons of UH-1 Iroquois and a squadron of 12 Boeing CH-47 Chinooks, all designated primarily in Army support roles. However, although helicopters formed a significant force within the RAAF, expertise in helicopter operations tended to become diluted in the RAAF’s broader command structure, with no centralised agency to coordinate the operation of helicopters or develop operational doctrine. During normal operations, command and control was exercised through the Air Officer Commanding Operational Command (later Air Command) and through air base commanders, who usually had a background in fast-jet operations and little personal experience of helicopter operations. Moreover, because helicopters were relatively new to the RAAF, there was no depth of experience in helicopter operations among senior RAAF officers at the time. Consequently, the helicopter force failed to gain significant advocacy at senior levels in the RAAF. Command and control was improved later when the helicopters became part of the Tactical Transport Group (TTG) within Air Command when the RAAF was restructured to form Force Element Groups (FEGs). However, it is notable that while all other FEGs were commanded by an Air Commodore (‘One Star’ commander), the TTG was commanded by a Group Captain, reinforcing the perception that the RAAF afforded a lower status to helicopters within its organisation.
Peacetime arrangements for command and control of RAAF helicopters was similar to those for other forms of tactical air support. Army units requiring helicopter support would bid through the Army chain of command to Land Command, which would then submit requests for helicopter support to Air Command, which in turn tasked the helicopter squadrons. Liaison was arranged through RAAF air liaison officers established at brigade and divisional level in the Army, and through Army ground liaison officers at command and squadron level in the RAAF. During operations, it was envisaged that helicopters would be assigned to the commander of the Joint Operational Deployment Force, with Operational Control exercised through the commander of the Tactical Air Support Force, an appointment filled by the officer commanding the Tactical Transport Group. Some Army officers felt that they lacked adequate control of the battlefield helicopters and it may be that the RAAF did not always vest sufficient control in the operational commander. Post exercise reports criticised the bureaucratic processes for arranging air support and the remoteness of air headquarters. Commenting on the control of air power generally, one Chief of the Air Staff later conceded:
Too often in the past, the Air Force has been reluctant to grant the level of command the operational situation and the commander’s directives required. Such reluctance has no place in the ADF; in military operations, blurred or cross-lines of command too often culminate in disasters. … Decentralising execution means a devolution of responsibility and authority to a level of the operating elements .
On occasions, the attitude of RAAF pilots may also have caused frustration for Army commanders. Army officers often cite instances where, at the end of a day’s training in the field, RAAF pilots would fly to a motel for the night rather than stay in an Army tent. RAAF claims that such accommodation was necessary to provide ‘mandatory aircrew rest conditions’ were undermined when pilots regularly appeared the next morning suffering the effects of a heavy night out. Moreover, the RAAF’s tendency to support its own requirements (rations, transport, accommodation etc) during deployments may also have antagonised Army opinion and created an impression that RAAF ‘didn’t know how to operate in the field’. There were also shortcomings in the training of RAAF helicopter pilots, who were not provided formal instruction in Army concepts of land warfare; however, once on the squadron, regular training exercises with the Army ensured that helicopter pilots soon acquired the necessary level of knowledge. Indeed, it has been claimed that RAAF helicopter pilots who spent a major portion of their career in the Army support role became the ADF’s experts in airmobile operations.
By the 1980s, Army support had become accepted as the primary task for RAAF helicopters, but they were also involved in a wide range of other operations, including assisting in national emergencies and maintaining a detachment in support of the Multi-National Force in the Sinai Desert. By the mid-1980s there was general recognition that a new utility helicopter was needed to meet the Army’s operational requirements for battlefield support. This led to the Department of Defence initiating the procurement of Sikorsky S-70A Blackhawks for the RAAF in 1984, primarily to meet the Army’s requirements for battlefield mobility. As the Service responsible for operating and supporting the aircraft, the RAAF set down most of the detailed specifications for the aircraft, specifying a much higher level of sophistication for the helicopters than the UH-60A Blackhawk then in service with the US Army. However, there were significant shortcomings in the acquisition process, notably in the ordering of spares and the estimation of support costs. Meanwhile, the Army’s fleet of helicopters had increased to include three squadrons of Bell 206 Kiowas (OH-58 in US service), which, along with a number of fixed-wing aircraft, formed the 1st Aviation Regiment. In contrast to RAAF helicopter squadrons, these aircraft were closely integrated with Army field units and were based with the units they were assigned to support. In addition to the 1st Aviation Regiment, Army aviation also included a headquarters, a training school and base support squadron, all based at the Army Aviation Centre in Oakey. The RAAF continued to provide basic flying instruction for Army pilots and much of the engineering support for Army Aviation, including setting the technical, maintenance and safety standards for helicopter operations. The Centre, which had been formed in 1969, provided a focus for Army aviation and had the potential to form the nucleus around which the Army could build a case for assuming ownership of the RAAF helicopters; the opportunity arose in 1986 following a review of Australia’s defence capabilities.
Transfer of Ownership
In 1986, the Minister for Defence, Mr Kim Beazley, announced that control, but not ownership, of battlefield helicopters would be transferred progressively from the RAAF to the Army over the ensuing five years. The decision followed a review of Australia’s defence capabilities commissioned by the Australian Government and carried out by Mr Paul Dibb, a civilian academic. Among its wide-ranging conclusions, Dibb’s report included the following recommendation:
Combat efficiency may be enhanced if ground force tactical helicopters and their crews were operationally part of the Army. The review considers that its recommendation to enhance the helicopter lift capability for the Army provides a suitable opportunity to integrate the helicopter element into the Army structure.
It is not clear what evidence was used to support this conclusion. Earlier, a committee established to investigate the matter had concluded that the transfer could not be justified and recommended that the Air Force should remain responsible for operating troop-lift helicopters. Nonetheless, Dibb’s proposal to transfer the helicopters from the RAAF to the Army was accepted. Air Marshal Evans, a former Chief of the Air Staff, has claimed that move was initiated by the then Chief of the General Staff, with support from the Chief of the Defence Force (also an Army officer at the time). Evans is vitriolic in his condemnation of the decision and accuses the Army chiefs of seriously damaging inter-Service relations. The decision to transfer the helicopters does seem to be have been an extreme reaction to resolving any shortcomings in command and control arrangements, which could have been addressed with far less draconian measures. Moreover, it seems that by the time the decision was made, the RAAF had acquired a high level of expertise in its helicopter operations, and was highly regarded for its support to Army operations. It could be that senior Army officers were driven more by their own experiences some 20 years earlier than by contemporary concerns. Because the transfer coincided with the introduction of a new type of helicopter, it is not possible to assess objectively whether it produced any positive outcomes. However, at the very least, it was likely to have been severely prejudicial to creating an environment of harmonious working relations between the Services. Air Marshal Evans claims that the transfer created an atmosphere of dislike, distrust and disdain between the Services, while the RAAF Historian believes it traumatised some senior levels in the RAAF.
The transfer led to a rapid expansion of Army Aviation, which formed the 5 th Aviation Regiment at RAAF Base Townsville in northern Queensland to take control of the Blackhawks and some of the ex-RAAF Iroquois. The remainder of the Iroquois were transferred to the 1st Aviation Regiment and the School of Army Aviation at Oakey. To cope with its increased role, the School of Army Aviation was also expanded, and in 1990 the RAAF helicopter training squadron was disbanded to form the ADF Helicopter School, operating Aerospatiale AS-350 Squirrel helicopters, responsible for training Army and RAN aircrew.
An apparent inconsistency in the plan to transfer ownership of helicopters was the decision to retain Chinooks in service with the RAAF, thereby maintaining a division between the Services in the operation of battlefield helicopters. In the event, however, in 1989 the Defence department agreed to a RAAF proposal to discontinue operating Chinooks as an economy measure. However, their absence was keenly felt, especially during exercises and it was later decided to return a limited number of Chinooks to service. By the time the Chinooks returned to service, RAAF expertise in their operation had been dissipated and consequently the aircraft were assigned to the Army. Four Chinooks were established as part of 5th Aviation Regiment in 1995, with a further two ordered for delivery in 1998.
The process of transfer created a number of challenges, not least the training of sufficient Army pilots. Although some RAAF aircrew and technicians remained with the Army during the early transition period, few RAAF personnel chose to transfer to the Army, resulting in a loss of valuable experience. To provide sufficient pilots, the Army recruited officers on short service commissions to be employed specifically in flying duties; however, the retention rate of these pilots was not high and continued to present the Army with a significant training burden. Initially, the Army considered employing senior non-commissioned officers and warrant officers as pilots, whom, it was assumed, would be less expensive to employ than officer pilots; however, this plan was soon abandoned on the grounds of impracticability. One of the problems for a relatively small aviation force like that of the Australian Army is that its aircrew operate in a narrow specialisation. Additionally, a small aviation force is less well placed to absorb fluctuations in the availability of suitably trained personnel. In a larger flying organisation such as the RAAF, aircrew are able to move between roles, which encourages the cross pollination of techniques and knowledge. From the RAAF’s perspective, the loss of helicopter pilots from its pool of aviators reduced some of its flexibility to re-role aircrew, a facility that proved useful during the Vietnam War when there was a rapid expansion in the helicopter fleet. In a force the size of the ADF, there would appear to be benefits in considering personnel with specialist skills, such as aircrew and aircraft technicians, as ADF assets, available for employment across the Services.
There were also serious discontinuities in the logistic support arrangements associated with the transfer. The RAAF remained responsible for the provision of logistic support, but there seems to have been inadequate management of the process, with, for example, the spares provisioning not matching the Army’s flying rate. The lack of adequate budgeting arrangements between the RAAF and the Army for Blackhawk spares may have compounded the problem, for while the RAAF was responsible for resourcing and provisioning spares for Army aircraft, the Army had no visibility of the RAAF’s expenditure or control over allocations. Managing logistic support for new aircraft can often be a difficult process, especially across two Services, but the atmosphere of soured inter-Service relations would certainly not have helped matters.
In the harsh Australian conditions, Blackhawks suffered a significant number of technical problems, including airframe cracking and higher than expected component usage. This led to an inadequate inventory of spare parts, some of which required long-lead times for delivery, resulting in prolonged aircraft down times for maintenance. This in turn led to a reduction in aircraft availability, a situation brought to the fore during Exercise Kangaroo ‘95, when only five out of 28 Blackhawks in 5th Aviation Regiment were available. At one stage during 1995, 24 of the Regiment’s Blackhawks were reported to be unserviceable. The shortage of serviceable Blackhawks seriously prejudiced the ability of Army pilots to retain flying currency and complete their operational work-up training. Nevertheless, it appears that despite the difficulties, Army pilots continued to conduct highly demanding training exercises. However, the degree to which this can be attributable to a ‘can do’ spirit in the Army can only be conjecture.
Blackhawk Tragedy. In June 1996 two Army Blackhawks collided during a night training exercise involving the SAS, resulting in the death of 18 soldiers. In addition to the immediate causes of the accident, a Board of Inquiry also identified a number of systemic and equipment issues as contributory factors. In a statement on the accident, the Minister for Defence chose to highlight a lack of flying experience among Blackhawk pilots as a ‘major contributory cause’, although this was identified as only one of 26 contributory causes by the Board. The lack of experience was attributed to a high rate of unserviceability in the two years leading up to the accident, and the high pilot separation rates over a similar period, eroding the bank of experience at the 5th Aviation Regiment. The lack of experience of Blackhawk pilots became the focus of considerable media attention, even though the majority of the pilots involved in the accident were highly experienced and among the most current in the Regiment.
Nonetheless, it also seems fair to question whether senior Army officers had sufficient intimate knowledge of air operations to judge whether the planned exercises were safe. In air forces, air experience and knowledge is a fundamental aspect of command and supervision, right up to very senior positions. In the Army, where aviators fill only a very small proportion of appointments at senior levels, such knowledge can only be largely theoretical. Officers with a non-flying background cannot be expected to appreciate fully the intricacies of the risk associated with aviation, which makes it difficult for them to spot the telltale signs that all may not be well. This places aviation commanders in the invidious position of having to explain to their superiors why the job cannot be done for what might seem like relatively trivial reasons and risk being perceived as lacking the tenacity to ‘get on with the job’. Such an arrangement can be made to work, but depends on the integrity of the subordinate commander and adequate support from the senior commander. In this case, according to media reports at least, aviation commanders did advise their superiors of their concerns regarding the currency and proficiency of their pilots in the weeks preceding the accident. While there has been considerable media speculation as to what action senior Army commanders took in response to these reports, any such action would inevitably have had to have been more dependent on staff advice rather than personal experience.
In the aftermath of the inquiry, a number of measures were taken to reduce the risk of similar accidents, including measures to reduce pilot separation and establishing an overarching Defence Force Flying Safety Authority under the Chief of Air Force. Nonetheless, there remain serious challenges for Australian Army Aviation in maintaining the necessary high level of aviation expertise in a relatively small force.
Army Aviators
All Australian Army pilots are commissioned officers, serving on either general or short-service commissions. Blackhawks, Chinooks and Iroquois are also crewed by two loadmasters, who are usually non-commissioned officers permanently assigned to flying duties, although consideration has been given to employing some aircraft technicians in this role. Non-commissioned officers are also employed as aircrew observers on Kiowas. Officers are commissioned into the Aviation Corps after graduation from basic officer training at the Royal Military College Duntroon or the Australian Defence Force Academy.
An intriguing aspect of the Australian Army corps and regimental system is that general service officers do not select their corps or regiment before joining the Army and are only appointed on completion of their officer training. This reinforces the ‘soldiers first’ ethos, but potential recruits wishing to join the Army for a career as general service officers in the aviation branch must take a gamble on being selected for the aviation corps. Short service officers on the other hand are recruited directly into the Aviation Corps and complete a relatively short course of officer training before undergoing pilot training. Apocryphal evidence suggests that the success rate of short service officers during pilot training is much higher than that of general service officers, creating an imbalance in aviation regiments. Whether or not this is the case, wastage rates in the aviation branch have been high and it has been it has been necessary to offer short service officers extensions to their service. Since short service officers are recruited directly into the Aviation Corps and spend most of their careers in flying appointments, it is difficult to see how these pilots might be expected to have a greater intimate knowledge of land operations than their Air Force counterparts who previously flew helicopters. Perhaps the Australian Army has discovered that the demands of flying are such that it requires professional aviators to conduct it safely and effectively.