RAAF Base Pearce
RAAF Base Pearce is the main Royal Australian Air Force military air base in Western Australia. The base is located in Bullsbrook, north of Perth, it is used for training by the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Pearce is the busiest RAAF base in Australia, with the highest air traffic including civil flights, including civil movements at the Joint User bases. Although its primary role is pilot training, it remains the only permanent RAAF base on the west coast, thus has a significant logistics role. Pearce has operational responsibility for RAAF Gingin, a small military airfield located near Pearce used for flying training; when requested by the flying units, a rotation of air traffic controllers travel from Pearce to Gingin daily to provide services. Built between 1936 and 1939, RAAF Base Pearce was granted "station" status on 6 February 1939, it was named in honour of a Senator from Western Australia. Pearce was elected to the inaugural Senate in 1901 and remained a Senator for Western Australia until 1938.
He was Minister for Defence in four separate ministries including the period 1910 to 1913 when the Central Flying School was established. The base opened with Nos. 14 and 25 Squadrons. During World War II, No. 5 Initial Training School was formed at RAAF Pearce as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Recruits commenced their military service at the ITS, learning fundamentals such as mathematics and aerodynamics. On 10 September 1950 a one-off motor race meeting, called the "Air Force Handicap" was held as a part of an RAAF air show; the circuit was triangular in shape, used all three runways of the base. The feature race was won on handicap by Syd Negus in a Plymouth Special, ahead of Syd Barker in a Ballot V8 and Arthur Collett in an MG TC; the 2005 Defence Force Air Show, held at Pearce on 19–20 November, marked the first visit to Perth of the United States Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber. The 2012 Defence Force Air Show, held at Pearce on 19–20 May, included visits by a USAF B-52 bomber, a USAF KC-135 tanker, an RAAF AEW&C Wedgetail and an RSAF C-130 Hercules.
The following units are located at RAAF Base Pearce: The Republic of Singapore Air Force's No. 130 Squadron is located at Pearce, operates training aircraft. The base is home to a mockup of a Boeing 747 used for counter-terrorism training and has been used by the Special Air Service Regiment. Built in 2010 the mockup is smaller than an average Boeing 747 and has two non-flying engines with a fictional Emu Airlines livery. In 1964, Australia and the United States agreed to conduct a "Joint Research Program for Studying Aero-Space Disturbances and their Effect on Radio Communications" at the Pearce base. RAAF Base Pearce is used by the Australian Air Force Cadets as a headquarters and for promotional courses, as well as serving as headquarters for No. 7 Wing and premises for No. 701 Squadron. An airliner mock-up has been built on base to serve as an anti-hijacking training aid for the Australian Special Air Service's counter-terrorism squadron known as Tactical Assault Group, it is used to practise airliner hostage rescue drills.
In 2014 the base was the hub for the international search of the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It hosted search aircraft from six other nations including a United States Navy P-8 Poseidon, P-3 Orions of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and Republic of Korea Navy, Ilyushin Il-76s of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force. RAAF Base Pearce has been identified as the site for a second airport for Perth; the Republic of Singapore Air Force operates its Flying Training Institute at Pearce. List of airports in Western Australia List of Royal Australian Air Force installations RAAF Base Pearce at airforce.gov.au
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, the first to be powered by a single jet engine. Work on the Vampire commenced during 1941 in the midst of the Second World War. Out of the company's design studies, it was decided to settle on a single-engine, twin-boom aircraft, powered by the Halford H.1 turbojet engine. Aside from its propulsion system and twin-boom configuration, it was a conventional aircraft. Despite being ordered as an experimental aircraft only, during May 1944, it was decided to mass-produce the aircraft as an interceptor for the Royal Air Force. During 1946, the first production Vampire entered operational service with the RAF, only months after the conflict had come to an end; the Vampire proved to be an effective aircraft and was adopted as a replacement for many wartime piston-engined fighter aircraft. During its early service, it was recognised for accomplishing several aviation firsts and various records, such as being the first jet aircraft to traverse the Atlantic Ocean.
The Vampire remained in front-line service with the RAF up until 1953. During 1966, the Vampire was retired by the RAF, having been withdrawn from its final role as an advanced trainer after having been replaced by the Folland Gnat; the Royal Navy had adopted the type as the Sea Vampire, a navalised variant suitable for operations from its aircraft carriers. It was the service's first jet fighter; the Vampire had been exported to a wide variety of nations and was operated across a plethora of theatres and climates across the world. Several countries deployed the type in combat during several conflicts, including the Suez Crisis, the Malayan Emergency, the Rhodesian Bush War. By the end of production 3,300 Vampires had been manufactured, a quarter of these having been manufactured under licence in several other countries. In addition, de Havilland pursued the further development of the type. In January 1941, Sir Henry Tizard made an informal approach to the de Havilland Aircraft Company, suggesting that the company proceed to design a fighter aircraft that would harness the revolutionary new jet propulsion technology under development, along with an appropriate engine to go with it.
While no official specification had been issued, de Havilland decided to proceed with an exploration of the concept. The aero-engine designer Major Frank Halford had been given access to Frank Whittle's pioneering work on gas turbines. Halford's engine was developed, emerged as the Halford H.1. By April 1941, design work on the engine had been completed; the low power output of the early jet engines had meant that only twin-engined aircraft designs were considered to be practical during the early stages of development. Its first design, designated as the DH.99, was an all-metal, twin-boom, tricycle undercarriage aircraft armed with four cannon. The use of a twin boom enabled the jet pipe to be kept short, which avoided the power loss that would have occurred if a long pipe was used, as would have been necessary by a conventional fuselage, it put the rudder empennage clear of interference from the exhaust. Performance was estimated at 455 mph at sea level and initial climb of 4,590 ft/min on 2,700 lb thrust.
The Ministry of Aircraft Production expressed doubts regarding the estimations for the aircraft's performance and weight. The DH.99 design was soon modified to incorporate a combined wood-and-metal construction in light of recommendations from the MAP. The aircraft was considered to be a experimental design due to its use of a single engine and some unorthodox features, unlike the Gloster Meteor, specified for production early on. In February 1942, the MAP suggested dropping the project for a bomber but de Havilland stated that the twin-boom was, despite Ministry doubts, only an engineering problem to be overcome. On 22 April 1942, the construction of two prototypes was authorised by the Ministry while Specification E.6/41 was produced and
Surya Kiran
Surya Kiran is an aerobatics demonstration team of the Indian Air Force. The Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team was formed in 1996 and are a part of the 52nd Squadron of the IAF; the team has since performed numerous demonstrations with nine aircraft. The squadron was composed of the HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2 military trainer aircraft till 2011 and were based at the Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka. The team was suspended in February 2011 and was re-established with Hawk Mk-132 aircraft in 2017. Formation aerobatics is not new to the IAF; as early as 1944, the IAF had a display flight and a few ad hoc teams carried out aerobatic displays on special occasions such as the Air Force Day parade and firepower demonstrations. During the golden jubilee year of the IAF in 1982, handpicked fighter pilots from various squadrons formed an aerobatic team for the IAF called ‘The Thunderbolts’. Flying blue and white Hunter fighter bomber, this team captivated audiences for about a decade and it gave its last public display in 1989.
The experience gained from the Thunderbolts was put to good use by a four-aircraft team called the Formation Aerobatic Team, set up in Bidar in 1990 on Kiran-II trainers. Though the team did not give any public displays, it ensured that formation aerobatic skills were maintained in the IAF. In early 1996, serious planning began for AVIA-96, the first major air show and aviation trade event hosted in India; the organisers’ initial intention was to invite an aerobatic team from overseas, but some senior IAF officers were confident that the world’s fourth largest air force would be able to field its own team. This formed the genesis of the Surya Kiran, meaning rays of the sun. In May 1996, Wg Cdr Kuldeep Malik, who as a Flight Lieutenant had been a member of the ‘Thunderbolts’, and, serving as an instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, was moved to Bidar, with instructions to raise a new aerobatic team; the pioneer team comprised Wg Cdr Kuldeep Malik Sqn Ldr A K Murgai, Sqn Ldr V K Khorana, Sqn Ldr S Prabhakaran, Sqn Ldr A R Gore, Sqn Ldr R K Obheroi, Sqn Ldr N Kanitkar, Sqn Ldr P K Vohra, Flt Lt T. Sharma, Flt Lt K Prem Kumar and Flt Lt K.
K. Dubey; the Surya Kiran Formation Aerobatic Team flew its first 6 aircraft formation sortie on 27 May 96 at AF Stn Bidar. During these early months the team flew overtime, graduating from aerobatics in four-aircraft box formation to six-aircraft in shockwave formation; the first six-aircraft formation took wings on 8 August 1996. There were two manoeuvres which the team managed to get through with a little bit of trouble; the first was the Goblet roll and the other the Tango roll — the latter incidentally was a historic first for the IAF because the famed Thunderbolts did not do this manoeuvre. Soon the SKAT was tasked to carry out their first public display — a flawless six-aircraft display for the golden jubilee celebrations of Air Force Administrative College, Coimbatore. On 15 September 1996, appreciated by all those who witnessed it. In 1998, with Wg Cdr A K Murgai as the CO, the team expanded to a nine-aircraft formation. Considering the team was just two years old, it was no small achievement.
The team first displayed a formation of nine-aircraft during the Independence Day fly past over the Red Fort in 1998. The first full-fledged nine-aircraft aerobatic display was to follow at Palam on 8 October 1998, to mark Air Force Day. In November 1999, the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows aerobatic team was transiting through India en route to Australia; the Surya Kiran team was at Hindon to interact with them and a lucky few managed a sortie in the Hawk. Three months the French aerobatic team ‘Patrouille de France’ was at Pune and the two teams met and flew some sorties in the Alpha jet. An interaction between the two teams resulted in the SKAT adopting the "Synchro" manoeuvre; this added more colour to its displays. The first synchro sequence was displayed during the Combined Graduation Parade at Air Force Academy in June 2000; the team has carried out over 500 displays in 72 cities across the country, from Srinagar in the north to Tiruvananthapuram in the south and from Naliya, the western-most air station, to Chabua, the country’s easternmost airfield.
Srinagar, at an altitude of 5436 feet is the highest airfield from which it has operated, when it performed over Dal Lake in July 2003. Flying over sea is the toughest as the flat expanse of water affects depth perception, it has performed in the capitals of Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Singapore. On completion of a decade of precision formation aerobatics, the Surya Kiran, the youngest nine-aircraft aerobatic team in the world, was conferred with Squadron status. With effect from 1 May 2006, the team became IAF’s No. 52 Squadron. After the performance in Bengaluru in February 2011, the Surya Kirans were grounded because the Air Force faced a severe shortage of training aircraft. In Feb 2015, the Surya Kirans were resurrected as a four ac team with the induction of the British Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, being assembled in India by the state-run HAL; the team has performed a number of public displays including three presidential events. The team is now gearing up to perform its maiden six ac display in 16 October.
Surya Kiran operated 16 HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2 trainer aircraft. The "day-glo orange" and white colour scheme painted Kiran MK II is used by the IAF to train its fighter pilots in basic fighter manoeuvres and weapon delivery, it was designed by Dr. Gadge, the chief designer of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in 1960 and produced at HAL Bangalore; this ac weighs about five tons and is powered by an Orpheus engine that generates a thrust of 1906 kg, helping the aircraft to achieve a maximum s
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China and Japan, east of India, west of Papua New Guinea, north of Australia. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean; the region is the only part of Asia that lies within the Southern Hemisphere, although the majority of it is in the Northern Hemisphere. In contemporary definition, Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions: Mainland Southeast Asia known as Indochina, comprising parts of Northeast India, Laos, Thailand and West Malaysia. Maritime Southeast Asia known as Nusantara, the East Indies and Malay Archipelago, comprises the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India, East Malaysia, the Philippines, East Timor, Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands. Taiwan is included in this grouping by many anthropologists; the region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with both heavy seismic and volcanic activities.
The Sunda Plate is the main plate of the region, featuring all Southeast Asian countries except Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, northern Luzon of the Philippines. The mountain ranges in Myanmar and peninsular Malaysia are part of the Alpide belt, while the islands of the Philippines are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to have high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Southeast Asia covers about 4.5 million km2, 10.5% of Asia or 3% of earth's total land area. Its total population is about 8.5 % of the world's population. It is the third most populous geographical region in the world after East Asia; the region is culturally and ethnically diverse, with hundreds of languages spoken by different ethnic groups. Ten countries in the region are members of ASEAN, a regional organization established for economic, military and cultural integration amongst its members; the region, together with part of South Asia, was well known by Europeans as the East Indies or the Indies until the 20th century.
Chinese sources referred the region as 南洋, which means the "Southern Ocean." The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighboring regions. In the 20th century, the term became more restricted to territories of the former French Indochina; the maritime section of Southeast Asia is known as the Malay Archipelago, a term derived from the European concept of a Malay race. Another term for Maritime Southeast Asia is Insulindia, used to describe the region between Indochina and Australasia; the term "Southeast Asia" was first used in 1839 by American pastor Howard Malcolm in his book Travels in South-Eastern Asia. Malcolm only included the Mainland section and excluded the Maritime section in his definition of Southeast Asia; the term was used in the midst of World War II by the Allies, through the formation of South East Asia Command in 1943.
SEAC popularised the use of the term "Southeast Asia," although what constituted Southeast Asia was not fixed. However, by the late 1970s, a standard usage of the term "Southeast Asia" and the territories it encompasses had emerged. Although from a cultural or linguistic perspective the definitions of "Southeast Asia" may vary, the most common definitions nowadays include the area represented by the countries listed below. Ten of the eleven states of Southeast Asia are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while East Timor is an observer state. Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, is an observer. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea; some southern parts of Mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, are considered as part of Southeast Asia by some authors. * Administrative centre in Putrajaya. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia. Mainland Southeast Asia includes: Maritime Southeast Asia includes: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia.
Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India have strong cultural ties with Southeast Asia and sometimes considered both South Asian and Southeast Asian. Sri Lanka has on some occasions been considered a part of Southeast Asia because of its cultural ties to mainland Southeast Asia; the rest of the island of New Guinea, not part of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, is sometimes included, so are Palau and the Northern Mariana Islands, which were all part of the Spanish East Indies with strong cultural and linguistic ties to the region the Philippines. The eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania due to its distinctive faunal features. New Guinea and its surrounding islands are geologically considered as a part of Australian continent, connected via the Sahul Shelf; the region
Australia
Australia the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area; the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea and East Timor to the north. The population of 25 million is urbanised and concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, its largest city is Sydney; the country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians for about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, it is documented. After the European exploration of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, who named it New Holland, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia's national day; the population grew in subsequent decades, by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Being the oldest and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils, Australia has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres. A megadiverse country, its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east and mountain ranges in the south-east. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world. Australia generates its income from various sources including mining-related exports, telecommunications and manufacturing. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites. Australia is a developed country, with the world's 14th-largest economy.
It has a high-income economy, with the world's tenth-highest per capita income. It is a regional power, has the world's 13th-highest military expenditure. Australia has the world's ninth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 26% of the population. Having the third-highest human development index and the eighth-highest ranked democracy globally, the country ranks in quality of life, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights, with all its major cities faring well in global comparative livability surveys. Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Pacific Islands Forum and the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism; the name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis, a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories.
Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts; the name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst. In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known by that name; the first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office. Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", "the Wide Brown Land".
The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country". Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun around 65,000 to 70,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia; these first inhabitants were the ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continual civilisations on earth. At the time of first European contact, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers with complex economies and societies. Recent archaeological finds suggest. Indigenous Australians have an oral culture with spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime; the Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas. The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited s
Belarusian Air Force
The Military Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Republic of Belarus is the air force of the Armed Forces of Belarus, formed in 1992 from the 26th Air Army of the Soviet Air Forces, serving in the Byelorussian SSR. On 5 May 1942, on the basis of the Air Forces of the Western Front, the 1st Air Army was created. By General Staff order of 10 January 1949, the Army became the 26th Air Army. In 1980, the 26th Air Army was redesignated the Air Forces of the Belorussian Military District. On 1 May 1988, in accordance with the Ministry of Defence of the USSR's Decree № 0018, the Air Forces of the District were again renamed the 26th Air Army. On 15 June 1992, by decree № 05 of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, the 26th Air Army headquarters became the command of the Air Forces of the Republic of Belarus. In January 1992, the 927th Koenigsberg Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Regiment was transferred to the Air Force of Belarus. In 1993, the 927th Koenigsberg Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Regiment was renamed the 927th Koenigsberg Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Air Base Belarus.
In accordance with an edict of the President of Belarus in 2001, the Air Force, Air Defense troops were created as one of the arms of the Armed Forces of Belarus. The VVS and Air Defense forces are intended to protect population centres such as cities and regions, as well as the administrative, economic interests of the Republic, they are intended to defend troops from the impacts of enemy air attacks, against the attacks of hostile troops, as well as fire support and the guarantee of combat operations of ground forces. In peacetime, VVS and Air Defense forces are on standby to protect the state boundary in the air and control of Belarusian airspace. In August 2010, the 927th Konigsberg Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Air Base of Belarus was renamed the 927th Koenigsberg Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Training Center and the use of unmanned aircraft systems of the Air Force of the Republic of Belarus; the Air Force and Air Defense of the Armed Forces of Belarus are organized into six major flying regiments, including two interceptor, three strike, a reconnaissance regiments.
The air force consists of more than 18,170 personnel. Prior to August 2010, there were 6 primary airbases: Machulishchy, Baranovichi, Ross and Bereza. There are 4 active airbases: Baranovichi, Lida and Machulishchy, now December 2011; the Air Force is responsible for all military aviation, as the Army maintains no aircraft of its own. The Belarusian Air Force maintains close links with the Russian Air Force. On 30 August 2009, a Su-27 UBM aircraft crashed on the second day of the Air Show 2009 in Radom killing both pilots. On 21 April 2010, two MiG-29 aircraft were performing an exercise. One managed to land safely. On 23 September 2010, a MiG-29 aircraft crashed. On 29 November 2011, a Mi-24 helicopter crashed in a small forest near the village of Novye Zasimovichi; the crew of three people was killed on impact. According to eyewitnesses, "thick fog fell the previous evening."On 12 June 2012, a Su-25 aircraft crashed near a small village in Belarus. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Gridnyov, lost control of the aircraft when maneuvering at low-altitude.
He was ordered to eject, but instead remained on board to make sure the aircraft did not crash into the village. On 11 November 2014, a MiG-29 aircraft crashed. On 23 February 2017, a MiG-29 aircraft crashed. Engine fire during takeoff, Pilot ejected safely at Bobruisk, Mogilev Region After the Collapse of the USSR in 1992 Belarus had in its inventory: 45x MiG-23 - were scrapped 13x MiG-25 - were scrapped 42x Su-24 - were withdrawn from service 12 sold to Sudan Air Force 25x Su-27 - were withdrawn from service Approximately two dozen old Mi-2 helicopters are stored in Belarus, some may still be used by the Belarusian Police today. Two dozen An-2 utility aircraft are stored in Belarus. In February 2012, all 35 Su-24s were withdrawn from service. In December 2012, all 17 Su-27P and 4 Su-27UBM1 were withdrawn from service. Sergey Burdin,'Belarus Air Force,' Air Forces Monthly, March 2003, 26-30
Indonesian Air Force
The Indonesian Air Force is the military aviation branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The Indonesian Air Force is headquartered in Indonesia, its order of battle is split into three Air Force Operational Commands. Most of its airbases are located on the island of Java; the Indonesian Air Force has its ground force unit, called Air Force Special Forces Corps. In addition, While not part of the Air Force, most of Indonesian National Air Defense Forces Command personnel are picked from the Air Force and its commander is always an Air Force two-star Marshal; the Indonesian Air Force equipped with 110 combat aircraft. The inventory includes Su-30 as the main fighters supplemented by F-16 Fighting Falcons; the Indonesian Air Force will purchase 11 Sukhoi Su-35 and around 50 KF-X as a replacement for the already-aging US Northrop F-5 Tiger light fighters in its inventory. After World War II ended, Indonesia became the second country in Southeast Asia to acquire an air force. Indonesian pilots fought against the colonial forces of the Netherlands during 1945–1949 with former Japanese aircraft abandoned at the end of World War II, as well as aircraft of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force left before the Japanese occupation in 1941.
After the Japanese announced their surrender at the end of WWII, Indonesian nationalist leader Sukarno declared Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945. Several days Indonesian People's Security Force was formed to undertake security duties; the Air Division of this force was formed, using ex-Japanese planes scattered everywhere in the island of Java, including Bugis Air Base in Malang. The most numerous of these aeroplanes were the Yokosuka K5Y1 Willow trainers, which were hastily used to train newly recruited cadets. At the time of the founding, there was only one Indonesian holding a multi-engine pilot license from the pre-war Dutch Flying School, Agustinus Adisucipto, he was assisted by a few Japanese pilots. The new roundel was created by painting white on the lower part of the Japanese Hinomaru, reflecting the red and white of the Indonesian flag; the People's Security Force was re-organized to form a formal armed force. This marked the birth of the Indonesian Air Force on 9 April 1946.
However, tensions rose as the Dutch tried to re-claim their former colony and launched an assault on 21 July 1947, destroying most of the planes on the ground. Some planes were hidden in remote bases. 29 July 1947 was date of the first air operation by the newborn air force as three surviving aircraft, comprising two Yokosuka K5Y1 Willow and a Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia conducted air raids at dawn on the Dutch Army barracks in Semarang and Ambarawa, dropping incendiary bombs. Tactically, these raids did not have any effect on the Dutch positions, but psychologically, it was a great success as it proved that the Indonesian Air Force still existed; the Dutch had claimed the destruction of Indonesian Air Force in their assault before and they never expected any attack from the sky. Dutch Curtiss P-40E Warhawks tried to find all the guerrillas' planes, but they were too late to find those "ghost" aircraft which landed in Maguwo Air Base, near Yogyakarta. Indonesian pro-independence guerrillas tried to save captured aircraft in a number of remote areas, including examples of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen "Zeke", Aichi D3A "Val", Mitsubishi G4M "Betty".
Under pressure from the United Nations, the Dutch agreed to acknowledge Indonesian independence. Following the 1949 Round Table Conference, sovereignty was transferred to the United States of Indonesia; the Dutch armed forces left and the aeroplanes were handed over to the Indonesians. These comprised, among others, North American P-51 Mustang, North American B-25 Mitchell, North American T-6 Texan, Douglas A-26 Invader, Douglas C-47 Dakota and Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, which served as the main forces of the Indonesian Air Force for the following decade. During this era, Indonesia received its first jet aircraft, it was during this era that the national roundels were changed to the red and white pentagon. Political instability meant that the Indonesian Air Force saw action against several regional rebellions in Indonesia such as PRRI, Darul Islam-Tentara Islam Indonesia and the Republic of South Maluku separatists. Several Indonesian pilots scored their first kills, including Captain Ignatius Dewanto with his North American P-51 Mustang, who in 1958 shot down a Permesta Douglas B-26 Invader over Ambon.
Its pilot, Allen Pope, an American CIA agent, was captured and tried in Jakarta, thus revealing the significant involvement of the CIA's "Operation Haik" in the rebellion. The most famous Indonesian
Australia
Royal Australian Air Force
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