Our People in SA

Malvern’s Peter Nelson has had an impressive career in the Australian Defence Force that began in 1977 — and he’s still going.

These days the RAAF Squadron Leader is usually based at Edinburgh, but now he’s on duty in the Middle East.

Peter began his career in 1977 as an observer in the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm and transferred to pilot in 1982. He flew for 20 years before taking a civilian job as a rescue pilot for SouthCare Aero Medical Retrieval Unit.

“Then I joined the RAAF in 2001 as a P3 Orion pilot to keep flying after my civvy job ended,” said Peter.

A veteran of both Gulf Wars, East Timor, peacekeeping in the Sinai and numerous deployments to the Middle East, Peter is now serving in there as the liaison officer for RAAF surveillance aircraft with the Combined Maritime Force He is also responsible for the coordination of all international maritime patrol aircraft.

The 26-nation taskforce is there to promote security across approximately 2.5 million square miles of international waters in the Middle East. That’s an area bigger than Australia and includes some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

“The best part for me has been the success we’ve had with out counter piracy operations,” Peter said. “We had Christmas Day off but other than that it has been an intense four-month deployment.

When Peter returns to Australia he will be taking a well deserved break.

“The first thing I will do when I get home is hug and kiss my wife, then the dog and cat… in that order!

“Then I’m looking forward to a 2 week holiday with my wife in Tassie, drinking some Shiraz, having a wonderful meal at De Angelo’s in Battery Point and remembering how to sleep in past 5:15 am!”