The 173rd Aviation Squadron is an
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
helicopter training squadron equipped with
MRH 90 Taipan helicopters and provides support to the
Special Operations Command. The squadron is based at Luscombe Airfield,
Holsworthy Barracks
Holsworthy Barracks is an Australian Army military barracks, located in the Heathcote National Park in Holsworthy approximately from the central business district, in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The barracks is part of th ...
,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and forms part of the
6th Aviation Regiment.
The squadron may have been renamed as it does not appear in an Army December 2020
Order of battle
In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...
.
The squadron originally operated fixed-wing aircraft designated as the 173rd General Support Squadron and was later renamed the 173rd Surveillance Squadron. In 2010, the squadron was renamed the 173rd Aviation Squadron when it transitioned to rotary aircraft.
History
On 17 February 1974, the 173rd General Support Squadron was formed as part of the
1st Aviation Regiment based at
Oakey and initially operated 6
Pilatus PC-6 Porter
The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is a single-engined STOL utility aircraft designed by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. First flown in 1959, the PC-6 was produced at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. It has been built in both piston engine- an ...
s. In 1978, the squadron also received 11
GAF Nomad
The GAF Nomad is a utility aircraft produced by the Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) of Australia in Melbourne.
Supported by the Australian Government, design work began in the mid-1960s, and it made its maiden flight on 23 July 1971.
Despi ...
aircraft.
[.] During this time, the squadron undertook a variety of Army co-operation roles utilising the short take-off and landing characteristics of its aircraft. These included: artillery spotting, troop transport, field resupply, medevac, ground-air liaison. It was also used for survey work in the South Pacific and flood relief in Australia. In 1978, the squadron was involved in Operation Cenderawasih a mapping program in
Irian Jaya
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...
in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
with the Indonesian Army.
With the retirement of the Porters in October 1992,
the following year the squadron adopted the title of "173rd Surveillance Squadron" under this guise it undertook the aerial surveillance and survey roles and was also used as a vehicle to deliver parachute troops. In 1993, it acquired 12 more Nomads, mainly unsold civilian variants which had been kept in storage, to replace the Porters.
![Beechcraft B300 King Air 350 A32-426](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Beechcraft_B300_King_Air_350_A32-426.jpg)
In August 1995, following the fatal crashes involving Nomads from the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) and the
School of Army Aviation, the aircraft were withdrawn from service.
Most of the Nomad fleet was sold to the
Indonesian Navy
The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol I ...
but two were retained as unflyable training aids.
As a consequence, the squadron operated 4
Embraer EMB 110P1 Bandeirante aircraft leased from
Flight West Airlines
Flight West Airlines was an Australian regional airline headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland. Established in May 1987, it operated predominantly in Queensland. The airline went into voluntary liquidation on 19 June 2001 before being sold to ...
temporarily while a replacement for the Nomad was found.
[.] From 1996, these aircraft were replaced with 3
Beechcraft King Air
The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...
B200 aircraft leased from Hawker Pacific to be based at Oakley and 3
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...
320 aircraft leased from Hawker Pacific to be based in Darwin.
On 9 November 1997, Twin Otter VH-HPY was lost in a tropical mountainous training accident in Papua New Guinea, resulting in serious injuries to the three trainees and instructor onboard.
The squadron served in several
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
operations including
INTERFET
The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...
,
UNTAET
The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), ( pt, Administração Transitória das Nações Unidas em Timor Leste), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades long East Timorese cri ...
,
UNMISET
The United Nations Mission of Support to East Timor (UNMISET) lasted from 20 May 2002 to 20 May 2005, when it was replaced by United Nations Office in Timor Leste (UNOTIL). It was established when East Timor became an internationally recognised ind ...
and
Operation Astute
Operation Astute was an Australian-led military deployment to East Timor to quell unrest and return stability in the 2006 East Timor crisis. It was headed by Brigadier Bill Sowry, and commenced on 25 May 2006 under the command of Brigadier Michael ...
.
A squadron King Air was the first ADF aircraft to land in
Dili
Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...
ahead of the
INTERFET
The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...
peace-keeping taskforce in 1999.
By 2004, the remaining Twin Otter aircraft based in Darwin had been withdrawn from service, while the King Air B200 was replaced by the more modern King Air B350 variant leased from Hawker Pacific. Restructuring of Army's aviation capability saw the squadron separated from 1st Aviation Regiment and placed under the command of
16th Aviation Brigade as an independent unit.
By 2007, further re-organisation assigned all fixed-wing military aircraft to the RAAF and the squadron was to relocate to Sydney as a helicopter training and surveillance squadron under the newly raised 6th Aviation Regiment. In March 2008, the squadron became part of the 6th Aviation Regiment.
On 20 November 2009, the squadron handed the King Air over to the RAAF.
On 11 February 2010, the squadron was renamed as the "173rd Aviation Squadron" converting to rotary aircraft based with the 171st Aviation Squadron (now
171st Special Operations Aviation Squadron
The 171st Special Operations Aviation Squadron (171 SOAS) is an Australian Army helicopter squadron equipped with NHIndustries MRH-90 Taipan helicopters and provides support to the Special Operations Command. The squadron is based at Luscombe A ...
) at the recently redeveloped Luscombe Army Airfield operating a fleet of
Bell 206B-1 Kiowa helicopters.
The Kiowas were operated to provide training for graduate pilots unable to undertake operational conversions to the delayed
MRH 90 Taipan and
Tiger ARH helicopters.
The Kiowa had been retired on 26 October 2009 from the 1st Aviation Regiment.
In 2013, the squadron transitioned to the
Black Hawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus ur ...
helicopter with the role of providing support to the Special Operations Command and returned the Kiowa to the
Army Aviation Training Centre at Oakey.
In February 2019, the squadron commenced transitioning from the retiring Black Hawk helicopters to the MRH-90 Taipan helicopters with the transition completed in December 2021.
Notes
References
*
External links
Bandeirante– ADF-Serials
– ADF-Serials
{{Aust SF
Aviation units and formations of the Australian Army
Military units and formations established in 1974
Cold War history of Australia