World War II and aftermath During February and March 1942, the RAAF formed four transport units: Nos. 33, 34,
35 and
36 Squadrons. No. 34 (Transport) Squadron was established on 23 February at
RAAF Station Darwin, Northern Territory, four days after
the city was bombed for the first time. Coming under the control of
North-Western Area Command, the squadron's initial strength was six personnel and two
de Havilland DH.84 Dragons. One of the squadron's two officers,
Flight Lieutenant J.W. Warwick, became the first (acting) commanding officer on 2 March. The following day, one of the Dragons was destroyed on the ground at
Wyndham, Western Australia, by enemy air attack. With its other aircraft unserviceable, and accommodation at Darwin's civil airfield inadequate, squadron headquarters relocated to
Daly Waters Airfield on 5 March. On 14 March another Dragon was allocated; this was joined by two
Avro Ansons and two
de Havilland Tiger Moths in mid-May, by which time the squadron had moved to
Batchelor Airfield. By the end of the month, the squadron had thirty-four personnel, including six officers. It lost one of the Tiger Moths to a bushfire on 1 July, a few days after the plane crashlanded south of
Katherine. The squadron relocated again on 15 July, this time to
Hughes Airfield. It remained at Hughes until 27 August, when it transferred to
Manbulloo Airfield; it operated from Manbulloo until it was temporarily disbanded on 13 December and its aircraft transferred to No. 6 Communications Flight. No. 34 Squadron was re-formed on 3 January 1943 at
Parafield Airport, South Australia, from elements of No. 36 Squadron formerly based at
Essendon, Victoria. Initially comprising ninety-six personnel and eight aircraft, by the end of the month the squadron's strength had been reduced to seventy personnel and three Dragons operating in South Australia and the Northern Territory. On 11 March one of the Dragons was destroyed on takeoff at Parafield, causing two deaths—No. 34 Squadron's first fatalities. Another Dragon was lost in a fire after it crashlanded near
Tennant Creek in April. Beginning in May 1943, the Dragons were augmented by
Douglas C-47 Dakotas, giving the squadron a total strength of three Dakotas and two Dragons by the following month. By July, No. 34 Squadron was operating five Dakotas, which had fully replaced the Dragons, and in August its strength stood at seven Dakotas and 153 personnel, including forty-seven officers. It subsequently received an
Airspeed Oxford and a
Douglas DC-2, and began making supply drops and medical evacuations as far north as
Port Moresby, New Guinea. The squadron had its busiest month in May 1944, transporting almost 1,900 passengers and over of cargo. On 1 June it became the first operational RAAF squadron to have personnel of the
Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) in its ranks, a contingent made up of an officer and twenty airwomen. The WAAAF had been formed in 1941 and eventually made up thirty-one per cent of RAAF ground staff; its members were primarily employed in technical trades and were not permitted to serve in combat theatres. in
Point Cook, Victoria|alt=Twin-engined cargo plane painted white and grey with orange extremities, parked on tarmac October 1944 saw a detachment of the squadron operating from
Cape York in
Far North Queensland to bases in the
Dutch East Indies. Other detachments were located at
Townsville, Queensland, and
Coomalie Creek, Northern Territory. In February 1945, No. 34 Squadron commenced a relocation to
Morotai in the Dutch East Indies, under the control of the
Australian First Tactical Air Force, and was fully established at its new base by mid-April. The squadron supported the
invasion of Borneo, and its Dakotas were the first Allied aircraft to land at
Labuan and
Tarakan after the islands were captured. It remained at Morotai until the end of the war, at which time it became involved in repatriating Australian former prisoners of war from Singapore, and then in courier flights supporting the formation of the
British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. No. 34 Squadron returned to Australia between January and March 1946 and disbanded at
RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, on 6 June. The squadron was re-established at
RAAF Station Mallala, South Australia, on 1 March 1948, when No. 2 (Communications) Squadron was renamed No. 34 (Communications) Squadron. It operated as a VIP transport, courier and reconnaissance unit, primarily in support of the
Woomera rocket range, focal point of the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Project during the
Cold War. No. 34 (Communications) Squadron flew the only
Vickers Viking to be taken on strength by the RAAF, and was also the only RAAF squadron to operate the
Bristol Freighter. Three Freighters were taken on strength in April and May 1949, and a fourth in September 1951; one was lost with all three crew members in a crash near Mallala on 25 November 1953 after its wing failed in flight. The squadron also operated
Percival Prince,
Auster, Dakota and Anson aircraft, undertaking regular transport duties and disaster relief along with its Woomera support work before disbanding at Mallala on 28 October 1955.
VIP operations No. 34 (VIP) Flight was established at RAAF Base Canberra on 12 March 1956, and charged with the safe carriage of the Governor-General, senior Australian politicians and military officers, and visiting foreign dignitaries. It was formed from the VIP Flight of No. 36 Squadron, under
No. 86 (Transport) Wing. The flight remained in Canberra when No. 86 Wing relocated to Richmond in 1958. On 1 July 1959, it was re-formed as No. 34 (Special Transport) Squadron, leaving the control of No. 86 Wing to become an independent unit directly administered by
Home Command and tasked by RAAF Base Canberra. In October 1964, two second-hand
Vickers Viscount turboprop transports were obtained to supplement the Dakotas and Convairs; the two
piston-engine types were withdrawn after the delivery of two
Hawker Siddeley HS 748s beginning in April 1967 and three
Dassault Falcon 20 jets (known as Mystere in RAAF service) in June. Two
BAC 1-11 jets joined the squadron on 19 January 1968, and the two Viscounts were retired in March the following year. The wholesale re-equipment of the VIP fleet in the late 1960s was controversial, and questions were raised in Parliament regarding its cost and operations. The so-called "
VIP affair" led to more stringent guidelines governing No. 34 Squadron's tasking, requiring approval for flights to be made by the British Royal Family, the Governor-General, the
Prime Minister, or the Minister for Air. Eligibility criteria were also codified, and potential passengers included Federal ministers, opposition leaders, "individuals of similar status and importance visiting Australia", two-star officers and above, and other dignitaries of similar status. During the 1970s one of No. 34 Squadron's BAC 1-11s experienced an engine failure over the Tasman Sea while carrying Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam to New Zealand. The aircraft made a safe landing in Australia, but the incident led the RAAF to investigate using three- or four-engined aircraft for future VIP flights involving long over-water legs. The government eventually purchased two
Boeing 707s from
Qantas to perform long-range VIP flights and to improve the RAAF's strategic transport capabilities. Entering service in 1979, they joined the newly established No. 33 Flight (later No. 33 Squadron) in 1981. More 707s were acquired between 1983 and 1988, and four were converted for
air-to-air refuelling in the early 1990s. In 1984, No. 34 Squadron was awarded the
Gloucester Cup for its proficiency. The two HS 748s were transferred to the newly formed
No. 32 Squadron at
RAAF Base East Sale, Victoria. Responsibility for servicing the Falcon 900s was shared by No. 34 Squadron and Hawker Pacific, the latter performing heavy maintenance. In an unusual operation for the squadron, one of the Falcons was dispatched to Jordan in September 1990 to evacuate thirteen Australian citizens who had been held hostage in Iraq. On 21 December 1992, a Falcon 900 became the first RAAF aircraft to take part in
United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Somalia, when it departed
RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland, with a team of
Australian Army personnel to reconnoitre the theatre of operations. The unit received a commendation from the
Chief of the Defence Force, General
Peter Gration, shortly before his retirement in 1993. In January 1998, No. 84 Wing was organised as a special transport wing under Air Lift Group (renamed Air Mobility Group in April 2014). The term "special transport" referred to activities not directly related to army support, such as carrying VIPs. Headquartered at Richmond, No. 84 Wing took control of Nos. 32, 33 and 34 Squadrons. A flight by one of No. 34 Squadron's Falcons preceded
INTERFET operations in East Timor in 1999, carrying senior Australian military and diplomatic staff to
Dili on a goodwill mission. The Falcon 900s were replaced by two Boeing 737 Business Jets and three Bombardier Challenger 604s in July 2002. The new aircraft also replaced the two Boeing 707s operated by No. 33 Squadron in the VIP transport role. The 707s had permitted journalists to travel with the Prime Minister on international flights, and in replacing the bigger jets with 737s the
Liberal government of the time determined that media contingents covering VIP trips should travel on civil aircraft. This decision led to controversy in 2007, after the
crash of a Garuda airliner killed four Australian government officials and a journalist travelling in connection with a visit to Indonesia by Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer, who had flown on a Challenger. No. 34 Squadron and Qantas Defence Services marked 20,000 incident-free flying hours with the 737s and Challengers on 21 October 2008. The following year saw further controversy when Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd had to apologise for remarks to a cabin attendant over the meal he was served on one of the jets. In 2011, the squadron provided VIP transport during tours of Australia by Queen Elizabeth,
Prince William, and
Frederik and
Mary of Denmark, as well as support for US President
Barack Obama's visit to Canberra. On 13 October 2017, No. 34 Squadron was transferred from No. 84 Wing to No. 86 Wing. The squadron's Challengers were replaced with three
Dassault Falcon 7Xs in 2019. The new aircraft were larger and longer-ranged than the Challengers, and carried more advanced communications equipment. In April 2020, No. 34 Squadron was awarded the Gloucester Cup for its performance the previous year. The 737s failed to achieve their programmed flying hours from around 2020 due to the age of the aircraft and need for maintenance. They also suffered from reliability problems; one incident caused an important
National Cabinet meeting to be delayed when Prime Minister
Scott Morrison was unable to depart from Cairns. As a result, in December 2021 the government decided to replace the 737s with two
Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, provided by the
National Australia Bank; they were scheduled to enter service in 2024 and be retained until 2036. The RAAF's first Boeing 737 MAX 8 arrived in Australia on 12 July 2024. ==See also==