No . 2 Operational Conversion Unit RAAF No . 2 Operational Conversion Unit ( No . 2 OCU ) is a fighter training unit of the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . Located at RAAF Base Williamtown , New South Wales , the unit trains pilots to operate the McDonnell Douglas F / A - 18 Hornet , conducts refresher courses for pilots returning to the jet , and trains future Hornet instructors . Pilots new to the Hornet enter No . 2 OCU after first qualifying to fly fast jets at No . 79 Squadron and undertaking initial fighter combat instruction at No . 76 Squadron . Once qualified on the F / A - 18 , they are posted to one of No . 81 Wing ' s operational Hornet units , No . 3 Squadron , No . 75 Squadron or No . 77 Squadron . The unit was established as No . 2 ( Fighter ) Operational Training Unit ( No . 2 OTU ) in April 1942 . During World War II it provided training on a wide range of aircraft , including P - 40 Kittyhawks , Vultee Vengeances , Avro Anson s , CAC Boomerang s , Supermarine Spitfire s and Airspeed Oxford s . Disbanded in March 1947 , No . 2 OTU was re - formed at Williamtown in March 1952 in response to the demand for more highly trained pilots in the Korean War . It was renamed No . 2 ( Fighter ) Operational Conversion Unit in September 1958 , and since then has conducted training with the CAC Sabre , Dassault Mirage III , and Macchi MB - 326 , prior to taking delivery of the Hornet . Role and equipment . The role of No . 2 Operational Conversion Unit ( No . 2 OCU ) is to " support the preparation for and the conduct of effective airspace control , counter air strike and combat air support operations through the provision of trained personnel " . Located at RAAF Base Williamtown , New South Wales , it comes under the control of No . 81 Wing , which is part of Air Combat Group . No . 2 OCU is primarily responsible for conducting operational conversion courses on the RAAF ' s McDonnell Douglas F / A - 18 Hornet multi - role fighter , which entered service in 1985 . The unit takes students who have converted to fast jets with No . 79 Squadron , located at RAAF Base Pearce , Western Australia , and undergone lead - in fighter training at No . 76 Squadron , based at Williamtown . Most students are new to operational flying , but some are " retreads " ( experienced pilots converting from another aircraft type ) . As No . 2 OCU ' s instructors are among the RAAF ' s most experienced Hornet pilots , they often play a significant role developing new tactics , in cooperation with fighter combat instructors at other No . 81 Wing units . No . 2 OCU operates both single - seat F / A - 18A Hornets and two - seat F / A - 18Bs . The F / A - 18B is largely identical to the A model aside from its dual cockpit , which reduces internal fuel capacity by around six per cent . Aircraft livery includes a yellow - and - black tail fin flash , the base featuring a yellow tiger ' s head outlined in black , with a red mouth , white fangs and white eyes . The unit motto is " Juventus Non Sine Pinnis " ( " The Young Shall Have Wings " ) . Hornet conversion courses run for six months , after which graduates are posted to one of the RAAF ' s front - line fighter units , No . 3 Squadron or No . 77 Squadron at Williamtown , or No . 75 Squadron at RAAF Base Tindal , Northern Territory . Students must first gain their instrument rating on the Hornet , and are then taught basic fighter manoeuvres , air combat techniques , air - to - air gunnery , and air - to - ground tactics . The course culminates with Exercise High Sierra , a biannual event that was first run at Townsville , Queensland , in 1986 . The exercise lasts for two weeks and involves day and night flights , including precision strike sortie s with practice and live bombs . In addition to operational conversion , No . 2 OCU conducts refresher courses and fighter combat instructor courses on the Hornet . Pilots who have not flown Hornets for more than nine months undertake the two - week refresher course . Fighter combat instructor courses run for five months and are given every two years . Students are chosen from among the most experienced Hornet squadron pilots and undergo instruction in how to train others , as well as how to deal with complex operational scenarios . This is tested in simulated combat with other types of US or RAAF aircraft , as available , including F - 15 Eagles , F - 16 Fighting Falcons , and F / A - 18 Super Hornets . Graduates become qualified F / A - 18 instructors and initially remain with No . 2 OCU for the next two - year cycle . After this time they are posted to one of the front - line squadrons or No . 81 Wing ' s headquarters as a Hornet weapons - and - tactics specialist . History . Operational training : 1942 – 47 . During World War II , the RAAF established several operational training units ( OTUs ) to convert recently graduated pilots from advanced trainers to combat aircraft , and to add fighting techniques to the flying skills they had already learned . No . 2 ( Fighter ) Operational Training Unit ( No . 2 OTU ) was formed on 2 April 1942 at Port Pirie , South Australia . Its inaugural commanding officer was Wing Commander Peter Jeffrey , a fighter ace who had led No . 3 Squadron in North Africa . Jeffrey had recently brought on line Nos . 75 and 76 Squadrons , two of the first three fighter units raised to help defend northern Australia as the Japanese advanced towards New Guinea . His team of instructors at No . 2 OTU included fellow aces from the North African campaign , Clive Caldwell and Wilf Arthur . Originally equipped with CAC Wirraway s and Fairey Battle s , the unit ' s complement was augmented by P - 40 Kittyhawks , Vultee Vengeances , Avro Anson s , CAC Boomerang s , Supermarine Spitfire s and Airspeed Oxford s after it relocated to RAAF Station Mildura , Victoria , in May . By September 1942 its fleet of aircraft included nine of the 106 Kittyhawks the RAAF had on hand at the time . During November , No . 2 OTU conducted comparative trials that pitted a Spitfire Mk V against a P - 40E ; the final report of these trials judged that while the Spitfire had superior performance according to most criteria , the P - 40E was also a useful design . No . 2 OTU ' s Spitfire section was transferred to RAAF Station Williamtown , New South Wales , in March 1943 , under the command of ace John Waddy . Jeffrey handed over command of No . 2 OTU in August 1943 ; the same month , the unit logged over 5 , 000 flying hours , its highest level during the war . For the remainder of the conflict it maintained an average strength of more than 100 aircraft . North African campaign aces and former No . 3 Squadron commanders Bobby Gibbes and Nicky Barr served successively as chief flying instructor from March 1944 until the end of the Pacific War . Group Captain Arthur led the unit from July to November 1944 , when Group Captain Jeffrey resumed command . During 1945 the Spitfires and Kittyhawks were replaced by 32 North American P - 51 Mustang s . Training concluded that October , following the cessation of hostilities , and No . 2 OTU was reduced to a care - and - maintenance unit . During the war it had graduated 1 , 247 pilots , losing 45 students in fatal accidents . Jeffrey completed his appointment in June 1946 , and the unit was disbanded on 25 March 1947 . Operational training : 1952 – 58 . Post - war demobilisation saw the disbandment of all the RAAF ' s OTUs , including No . 2 OTU . Operational conversion of new pilots then became the responsibility of front - line squadrons . This practice disrupted the squadrons ' normal duties , while the advent of the Korean War and the introduction of jet aircraft further necessitated a more formal system of operational training . According to Dick Cresswell , commanding officer of No . 77 Squadron in Korea from September 1950 to August 1951 : The RAAF moved to rectify the situation by re - forming No . 2 OTU on 1 March 1952 to convert RAAF pilots to jet aircraft and train them for fighter operations . Headquartered at RAAF Base Williamtown , it was equipped with Wirraways , Mustangs , and de Havilland Vampire jets . Cresswell took command of No . 2 OTU on 21 May 1953 . The unit ceased flying Mustangs that October , retaining its Wirraways and Vampires . In April 1954 , it began conducting fighter combat instructor courses , as well as refresher courses on jets . Cresswell delivered the first Australian - built CAC Sabre jet fighter to No . 2 OTU in November , and the same month established the unit ' s Sabre Trials Flight . The flight was responsible for performance testing and developing combat flying techniques , in concert with the Aircraft Research and Development Unit ( ARDU ) . On 3 December 1954 , Creswell led a formation of twelve No . 2 OTU Vampires in the shape of two sevens over Sydney to greet No . 77 Squadron upon its arrival from service in Korea aboard the aircraft carrier HMAS " Vengeance " . Training courses on the Sabre began on 1 January 1955 . Once the Sabre entered operational service in March 1956 , the Sabre Trials Flight was dissolved and its responsibilities passed to No . 3 Squadron . Pilots underwent their introduction to jets and fighter combat at No . 2 OTU , but finished their conversion to Sabres at a front - line squadron . Operational conversion : 1958 – current . In May 1958 , No . 1 Applied Flying Training School began equipping with Vampire jet trainers at RAAF Base Pearce , Western Australia . As RAAF pilots were now gaining their first exposure to jets elsewhere , No . 2 OTU took over from the fighter squadrons the responsibility of converting trained jet pilots to Sabres . Reflecting its new primary role , it was renamed No . 2 ( Fighter ) Operational Conversion Unit ( No . 2 OCU ) in September 1958 , and ceased Vampire courses the same month . Wing Commander Neville McNamara , later Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) and Chief of the Defence Force Staff , served as commanding officer from August 1959 until January 1961 . During his tenure , the unit undertook exercises with No . 75 Squadron at RAAF Bases Amberley , Townsville and Darwin . Two Sabre pilots from No . 2 OCU and one from No . 75 Squadron died in separate incidents early in 1960 ; each had attempted to eject at low level and suffered fatal head injuries from colliding with the aircraft ' s canopy during the ejection sequence . All RAAF Sabres were grounded until ARDU developed a modification to shatter the canopy immediately before the pilot ejected . Along with Nos . 75 and 76 Squadrons , also based at Williamtown , No . 2 OCU was under the control of No . 81 Wing from 1961 until the wing was disbanded in 1966 . By late 1963 , personnel were busy developing training material for the pending Sabre replacement , the Dassault Mirage III , a task that required them to translate the manufacturer ' s technical documentation from the original French . No . 2 OCU received its first Mirages in February and March 1964 . It commenced conversion courses on the type that October , and fighter combat instructor courses in August 1968 . The RAAF eventually took delivery of 100 Mirage IIIO single - seat fighters and 16 Mirage IIID two - seat trainers ; No . 2 OCU operated both models . Squadron Leader John Newham , later to serve as CAS , held temporary command of the unit from July 1965 to April 1966 . A Sabre - equipped aerobatic display team named the " Marksmen " was formed within No . 2 OCU during 1966 and 1967 . Between 1967 and 1984 , six of the unit ' s Mirages suffered major accidents , resulting in three fatalities . Experience in the Vietnam War led the RAAF to begin training forward air controller s in 1968 . The task initially fell to No . 2 OCU before a specialised unit , No . 4 Forward Air Control Flight , was formed in 1970 . In October 1969 , the OCU began operating the Macchi MB - 326 jet for lead - in fighter training , in addition to the Mirage . Macchi courses were transferred to No . 5 Operational Training Unit in April 1970 , but returned to No . 2 OCU in July the following year . In preparation for the introduction of the F / A - 18 Hornet , No . 2 OCU temporarily ceased flying operations on 1 January 1985 and transferred Macchi and Mirage training to No . 77 Squadron , which assumed responsibility for fighter combat instructor , introductory fighter , and Mirage conversion courses . Beginning on 17 May , the first fourteen Australian Hornets — seven single - seat F / A - 18As and seven two - seat F / A - 18Bs — and a Hornet simulator were delivered to No . 2 OCU . Conversion courses on the type commenced on 19 August with four F / A - 18Bs and three students . No . 2 OCU has remained the prime user of the two - seat Hornet , though some are operated by the fighter squadrons , Nos . 3 , 75 and 77 . The first year of Hornet service saw No . 2 OCU , as the - then only RAAF operator , undertake demonstration flights around the country to unveil the new fighter to the Australian public . All of the Hornet units came under the control of a newly re - formed No . 81 Wing on 2 February 1987 . An intense training program that year resulted in 21 pilots converting to the type . In June 1987 , Macchi training courses again became the responsibility of No . 2 OCU ; this role was taken over by No . 76 Squadron in January 1989 . No . 2 OCU suffered its only Hornet loss to date when an F / A - 18B crashed at Great Palm Island , Queensland , during a night - time training flight on 18 November 1987 , killing the pilot . Two Hornets collided during an air - to - air combat training exercise the previous year , but both managed to return to base . The unit temporarily relocated to RAAF Base Richmond , New South Wales , in July 1990 , while Williamtown ' s runway was resurfaced . The RAAF began modifying four of its Boeing 707 jet transports to enable air - to - air refuelling of the Hornets in December 1988 ; No . 2 OCU staff commenced training for airborne tanker operations in July 1991 , subsequently adding this capability to the Hornet conversion course . By the mid - 1990s , the unit had 12 instructors and a complement of 18 Hornets , including 13 two - seaters . It was running two conversion courses per year , with eight students per course , and had an average failure rate of 10 per cent . Several of its instructors were US and Canadian pilots on exchange with the RAAF . In 2000 , No . 2 OCU joined Nos . 76 and 79 Squadrons as part of No . 78 Wing , which had been re - established as an operational training formation . As of 2005 , the unit had a strength of between 12 and 14 instructors and ran three Hornet conversion courses and one fighter combat instructor course over two - year cycles . About six new Hornet pilots took part in each of the conversion courses , and the unit generally graduated 15 new Hornet pilots over each cycle . By 2007 , No . 2 OCU had returned to the aegis of No . 81 Wing , under Air Combat Group . While the duration of the conversion courses has remained unchanged since the Hornets were introduced into service , the content covered has been altered over time to reflect upgrades to the Hornets , the replacement of the Macchis with superior BAE Hawk 127 trainers in the early 2000s , and experience gained from using Hornets in combat during the Iraq War . No . 2 OCU conducted its 32nd fighter combat instructor course in 2013 . The graduation exercise , Aces North , was the first to involve RAAF F / A - 18 Super Hornets , Airbus KC - 30 tankers , and Boeing E - 7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft , as well as the ' Classic ' Hornets .