|
| |
2OCU honour
Volume 49, No. 12, July 12, 2007 |
| |
 |
|
MILDURA MOMENT: From left, CUO Brendan Murphy, CSGT Sarah Lyons, CAF AIRMSHL Geoff Shepherd and CWOFF Matthew Falanga at the unveiling of the Mildura Air Force Memorial.
Photo by FSGT (AAFC) Philip Brow |
|
| |
With the future in their hands, members of No. 6 Wing Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) received an insight to the past when they supported No. 623 Squadron AAFC at the unveiling of an Air Force Memorial at Mildura recently.
CAF AIRMSHL Geoff Shepherd, former Chief of Air Staff ACM Sir Neville McNamara and WOFF-AF Ray Woolnough unveiled the memorial, which honours 2OCU.
2OCU CO WGCDR Philip Gordon and members of the Mildura branch of the RAAF Association also attended and 2OCU provided an F/A-18 display for the occasion.
Mildura was the headquarters for 2OCU between May 1942 and October 1945.
2OCU trained 1247 pilots with more that 104,000 hours flown. The memorial commemorates the 50 lives lost in training accidents and honours the endeavours and sacrifices of all men and women who served in the Air Force.
“Almost every fighter pilot who served in the South-West Pacific, including Sir Neville, had either been trained at Mildura or undertook a refresher course here,” AIRMSHL Shepherd said.
“Many ‘identities’ with significant battle honours can be linked with Mildura – John Gorton, Nicky Barr, ‘Bluey’ Truscott and Peter Jeffery. Only last month I attended the funeral for one of the heroes who trained here – Bobby Gibbes.
“One of the most famous RAAF identities associated with 2OCU at Mildura was WGCDR Clive Caldwell, Australia’s highest scoring fighter ace of World War II – who uniquely achieved ace status in both the Middle East and Pacific theatres.”
Cadets conversed with Sir Neville, AIRMSHL Shepherd and WOFF-AF Woolnough, along with a number of ex-RAAF personnel who served at Mildura and overseas.
The unveiling of the Mildura memorial gave the cadets present a deep insight into the history of the Air Force and its impact in the local area.
For more information on the AAFC, visit http://www.aafc.org.au
|
| |
|
