No. 60 Squadron was a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

fighter squadron of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was formed in January 1942 and disbanded three months later, without seeing combat.

Squadron history

No. 60 Squadron was formed at

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

, New South Wales, on 1 January 1942 as part of Australia's response to the rapid Japanese advance during the first month of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

and the perceived threat of invasion.Eather (1995), p. 81 It comprised 179 personnel and three

flights Flight is the process by which an object moves without direct support from a surface. Flight may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Flight'' (1929 film), an American adventure film * ''Flight'' (2009 film), a South Korean d ...

CAC Wirraway The CAC Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning "challenge") was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. It was an Australian development of ...

aircraft drawn from No. 2 Service Flying Training School. These aircraft were armed with two forward-firing

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

s and a further machine gun in the rear cockpit and could carry four 250-lb or two 500-lb

bombs A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

.RAAF Historical Section (1995), p. 39 The squadron began training on 6 January. It practiced formation flying,

dive bombing A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact throughou ...

and air-to-ground gunnery as well as conducting air defence exercises with other units based at Wagga Wagga. On 2 February No. 60 Squadron moved to

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

but remained under the operational command of Wagga Wagga's operations room. From 3 to 5 February the squadron exercised with another squadron based at Wagga Wagga. It did not conduct any flight training after 6 February, but continued ground training. No. 60 Squadron was disbanded on 3 April 1942 as its aircraft and personnel were needed by the RAAF's training units. The squadron's aircraft and other equipment were transferred to RAAF units at

Uranquinty Uranquinty is a small town approximately south of Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The population of the town, often referred to as "Quinty", is 909. Uranquinty was used as the railway village when the railw ...

and its personnel posted to units at Uranquinty and

Deniliquin Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...

. The squadron's commander throughout its existence, Blake Pelly, was promoted to the rank of acting

group captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

in 1944 and represented the

Electoral district of Wollondilly Wollondilly is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Nathaniel Smith of the Liberal Party. History Wollondilly was first established in 1904, partly replacing Bowral. ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

between 1950 and 1957.

Notes

References

* * * {{List of RAAF Squadrons 60 Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1942