No . 86 Wing RAAF No . 86 Wing is a Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) transport and air - to - air refuelling wing . Coming under the control of Air Lift Group , it is headquartered at RAAF Base Amberley , Queensland . The wing comprises No . 33 Squadron , operating Airbus KC - 30 tanker - transports , No . 36 Squadron , operating Boeing C - 17 Globemaster III heavy transports , No . 38 Squadron , operating Beech King Air 350 light transports , and the Australian Army ' s 68 Ground Liaison Section . Its aircraft support Australian military and humanitarian operations worldwide . Formed in the last year of World War II to undertake ground attack missions with de Havilland Mosquito s and Bristol Beaufighter s in the South West Pacific theatre , No . 86 Wing was reorganised in 1946 as a transport formation headquartered at RAAF Station Schofields , New South Wales , flying Douglas C - 47 Dakotas . It relocated to RAAF Base Richmond , New South Wales , in 1949 and began operating Lockheed C - 130 Hercules in 1958 . Disbanded in 1964 , the wing was re - established at Richmond in 1987 , flying Boeing 707 tanker - transports as well as the Hercules . No . 36 Squadron converted to Globemasters in 2006 . No . 33 Squadron retired its 707s in 2008 , and did not become operational with the KC - 30 until 2013 . Having previously flown de Havilland Canada DHC - 4 Caribou s , No . 38 Squadron converted to the King Airs in 2009 . The Hercules were transferred to No . 84 Wing in 2010 . No . 86 Wing headquarters relocated from Richmond to Amberley in January 2012 . History . Attack formation ( 1945 – 46 ) . Established in March 1945 under the command of Group Captain J . M . Whyte , No . 86 ( Attack ) Wing comprised two flying units , No . 1 Squadron operating de Havilland Mosquito s and No . 93 Squadron operating Bristol Beaufighter s . The wing was initially based on the island of Morotai in the South West Pacific theatre , as part of the Australian First Tactical Air Force . Its order of battle for Operation Oboe Six , the assault on north - west Borneo commencing in June , included Nos . 1 and 93 Squadrons , No . 84 Operational Base Unit , No . 30 Air Stores Park , No . 29 Medical Clearing Station , and No . 1 Repair and Servicing Unit — a total of over 1 , 400 personnel . Delays getting the aircraft operational at their forward base on Labuan meant that the wing only completed three combat missions before the end of the Pacific War , conducting rocket and machine - gun attacks on targets in Sarawak during August 1945 . No . 1 Squadron took part in one operation and No . 93 Squadron in two ; each unit lost one aircraft in action . No . 86 Wing was originally to have been augmented by a third combat unit , No . 94 Squadron , flying Mosquitos . Formed in May 1945 , the squadron was still undergoing training when the war ended , and it was disbanded at RAAF Station Richmond , New South Wales , in January 1946 . In December 1945 , shortly after the end of the Pacific War , the commanding officer of No . 93 Squadron , Squadron Leader D . K . M . Gulliver , crashed his Beaufighter on takeoff at Labuan , colliding with two P - 51 Mustangs of No . 77 Squadron parked at the airfield ; Gulliver and five people on the ground died in the accident , including the then - Officer Commanding No . 86 Wing , Group Captain L . C . M . Holswich . Between January and March 1946 , the Beaufighters escorted Mustangs of No . 81 Wing to Japan for service as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force . In August that year , Nos . 1 and 93 Squadrons disbanded at Narromine , New South Wales . Initial transport formation ( 1946 – 64 ) . Re - formed at RAAF Station Schofields , New South Wales , in July 1946 , No . 86 ( Transport ) Wing was assigned control of Nos . 36 , 37 , and 38 Squadrons , flying Douglas C - 47 Dakotas . The wing was augmented by No . 386 ( Base ) Squadron and No . 486 ( Maintenance ) Squadron , formed in August . The Dakotas initially flew supply missions to the Australian - administered Territory of Papua and New Guinea , as well as three - times weekly courier flights to Japan in support of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force . The latter schedule continued until December 1947 , when the service was taken over by Qantas Avro Lancastrian s . No . 37 Squadron disbanded in February 1948 . In August that year , crews from Nos . 36 and 38 Squadrons departed for Europe to take part in the Berlin Airlift , a commitment that lasted almost a year . The Australians were responsible for delivering over 16 million tons of supplies , and almost 8 , 000 passengers . No . 386 Squadron disbanded in March 1949 and re - formed as Station Headquarters at Schofields . On 22 June , No . 86 Wing , comprising Nos . 36 , 38 and 486 Squadrons , relocated to the nearby RAAF Station Richmond . Following the return of crews from Berlin , the wing was able to release No . 38 Squadron and its Dakotas to participate in the Malayan Emergency , under the control of No . 90 ( Composite ) Wing , commencing in June 1950 . Having airlifted more than 17 , 000 passengers and evacuated over 300 injured troops , the squadron left Malaya in November 1952 and returned to No . 86 Wing at Richmond . A month earlier , the wing ' s Dakotas had flown supply and observation flights in connection with the British atomic test on Montebello in Western Australia . No . 36 Squadron disbanded at Richmond on 9 March 1953 , re - forming the next day from No . 30 Transport Unit at Iwakuni , Japan . Here it was part of No . 91 ( Composite ) Wing , which controlled the RAAF ' s units during the Korean War and its immediate aftermath . The squadron returned to Australia and the aegis of No . 86 Wing two years later , following the disbandment of No . 91 Wing . In 1954 , No . 86 Wing relocated to Canberra to help satisfy the Federal government ' s VIP transport needs . It returned to Richmond four years later , leaving behind its VIP contingent , No . 34 Flight , which in July 1959 was re - formed as No . 34 Squadron and left the control of No . 86 Wing to become an independent unit directly administered by Home Command and tasked by RAAF Canberra . Having earlier augmented its complement of Dakotas with Convair 440 Metropolitain s , in December 1958 the wing began operating Lockheed Hercules medium transports , when No . 36 Squadron took delivery of the first of twelve C - 130As . They remained in service for twenty years , clocking up 147 , 000 accident - free flying hours . The official history of the post - war Air Force described the Hercules as " probably the biggest step - up in aircraft capabilities " the RAAF had ever received , considering it roughly four times as effective as the Dakota , taking into account the improvements in payload , range , and speed . When No . 78 ( Fighter ) Wing and its two squadrons of CAC Sabre s deployed to RAAF Base Butterworth between October 1958 and February 1959 , seven Dakotas were required to ferry the staff and equipment of No . 3 Squadron from Australia to Malaya , compared to two Hercules for No . 77 Squadron . In 1962 , Air Movements and Training Flight ( AMTF ) , previously under No . 38 Squadron and responsible for developing and imparting new techniques in aerial transport , came directly under the control of No . 86 Wing headquarters . That December , the Hercules made their first troop - carrying flights into a combat zone , when one of No . 36 Squadron ' s C - 130s joined a Commonwealth airlift from Singapore to Borneo at the commencement of the " Konfrontasi " between Indonesia and Malaysia ; similar missions would be undertaken for a further five years . No . 38 Squadron received the RAAF ' s first de Havilland Canada DHC - 4 Caribou tactical transports in April 1964 , replacing its Dakotas . The first six Caribous were despatched that August to South East Asia for service in the Vietnam War as RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam ( RTFV ) . The same month , No . 86 Wing was disbanded . Because the Caribous were primarily for support of the Australian Army , an overarching wing headquarters for the Caribous and Hercules was now considered inappropriate . No . 486 Squadron was also disbanded and its equipment and staff divided between Nos . 36 and 38 Squadrons , which along with AMTF became independently operating units under the command of Headquarters RAAF Base Richmond . Following the re - establishment at Richmond of No . 37 Squadron in February 1966 , flying C - 130E Hercules , No . 486 Squadron was re - formed to provide maintenance for both Hercules squadrons . As No . 36 Squadron ' s tasking was mainly tactical and No . 37 Squadron ' s strategic ( owing to the longer range of its C - 130Es ) , forming the Hercules units into a new wing was not deemed necessary . Continuing to be based at Richmond , the Hercules provided long - range transport and medical evacuation services to and from South East Asia during the Vietnam War . No . 36 Squadron ' s C - 130As were replaced by C - 130H models in 1978 . RTFV was re - formed as No . 35 Squadron in June 1966 , and continued to serve in Vietnam until Australian forces were withdrawn in 1972 ; it was then based in Richmond until 1976 , when it relocated to RAAF Base Townsville , Queensland . No . 38 Squadron meanwhile continued to operate Caribous out of Richmond until 1992 , when it transferred to RAAF Base Amberley , Queensland . In the Vietnam and post - Vietnam eras , along with their military transport duties , the Hercules and Caribou undertook disaster relief operations throughout Australia and the Pacific . Current transport formation ( 1987 – ) . No . 86 Wing re - formed at Richmond on 2 February 1987 , under the newly established Air Lift Group ( ALG ) , which replaced Headquarters RAAF Base Richmond . Commanded by Group Captain G . I . Lumsden , the wing ' s flying units consisted of No . 33 Squadron , operating Boeing 707 tanker - transports , and Nos . 36 and 37 Squadrons , operating C - 130H and C - 130E Hercules , respectively ; No . 486 Maintenance Squadron and Air Movements Training and Development Unit ( AMTDU ) , which had evolved from AMTF in 1965 , were also under its control . No . 486 Squadron was responsible for day - to - day maintenance of the 707s as well as the Hercules . No . 34 Squadron , the VIP transport unit based at RAAF Base Fairbairn in Canberra , and No . 32 Squadron , flying Hawker Siddeley HS 748 air navigation trainers at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria , became part of No . 86 Wing in June 1988 and July 1989 , respectively . During 1994 – 95 , the wing was commanded by Group Captain ( later Air Chief Marshal ) Angus Houston , who in 2005 was appointed Chief of the Defence Force , only the third RAAF officer to be raised to the top position in the Australian armed services . By mid - 1996 , No . 32 Squadron had been transferred to No . 84 Wing , which was also controlled by ALG . In 1998 , No . 86 Wing received the Duke of Gloucester Cup as the most proficient wing in RAAF Air Command . No . 486 Squadron was disbanded in October that year , after transferring its functions to Nos . 36 and 37 Squadrons . By then , Nos . 35 and 38 Squadrons , flying Caribous out of RAAF Bases Townsville and Amberley , respectively , had joined the Hercules squadrons and AMTDU under the aegis of No . 86 Wing , while Nos . 33 and 34 Squadrons had been transferred to No . 84 Wing , now also headquartered at Richmond . Later , AMTDU became part of No . 85 Wing at Richmond . No . 37 Squadron ' s C - 130Es were replaced by C - 130J models in 1999 . No . 35 Squadron transferred its Caribous to No . 38 Squadron in 2000 , and was " formally deactivated " in March 2002 . RAAF C - 130 operations were concentrated in No . 37 Squadron in November 2006 , when No . 36 Squadron transferred its C - 130Hs prior to re - equipping with the Boeing C - 17 Globemaster III heavy transports and relocating to Amberley . No . 38 Squadron ' s Caribous were retired at the end of 2009 , and replaced by Beech King Air 350 light transports . No . 37 Squadron was transferred to No . 84 Wing in October 2010 . The aircraft operated by No . 86 Wing became well known to the general public through their involvement in disaster relief and emergency transport in Australia and the region , along with their participation in overseas peacekeeping efforts . Hercules and 707s were employed by the Federal government to provide air transport during the pilots ' dispute that curtailed operations by the two domestic airlines in 1989 , evacuated Australian nationals from the Middle East during the first Gulf War in 1990 – 91 , and transported Australian troops to and from Somalia as part of Operation Solace in 1993 . Since the end of the Vietnam War , much of the RAAF ' s transport tasking had been relatively routine in nature , or involved humanitarian relief ; the Somalia operation marked the beginning of a shift for No . 86 Wing towards a more combat - ready or " operational " focus . Six Hercules evacuated over 450 civilians from Cambodia following the coup in July 1997 . Two detachments from the wing , one of Hercules and one of Caribous , supported INTERFET operations in East Timor between September 1999 and February 2001 . Wing operations staff accompanied Hercules of Nos . 36 and 37 Squadrons on relief efforts following the Bali Bombings in October 2002 . In February 2003 , a rotating detachment of three Hercules deployed to the Persian Gulf to support the Australian contribution to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , amassing 20 , 000 operational flying hours by March 2010 . From July 2003 to July 2004 , Caribous undertook reconnaissance and transport missions during the Solomon Islands intervention . No . 36 Squadron Hercules took part in Operation Sumatra Assist in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami . The RAAF ' s contribution to Operation Papua New Guinea Assist , following Cyclone Guba in November 2007 , included a Globemaster , two Hercules , and three Caribous . In September 2008 , a Globemaster undertook the type ' s first aeromedical evacuation in RAAF service , transporting five injured Australian troops to Amberley from Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan . Globemasters , Hercules and King Airs were all employed for flood relief in Queensland and Victoria early in 2011 . In February that year , Globemasters and Hercules transported medical staff and equipment to aid victims of the Christchurch earthquake . The following month , a Globemaster flew 23 sorties in Japan supporting relief efforts after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , while two other Globemasters delivered a water cannon to help contain damage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant . On 1 January 2012 , No . 86 Wing headquarters relocated from Richmond to Amberley . The wing ' s current complement is No . 33 Squadron , which became operational with the Airbus KC - 30 tanker - transport after receiving the fourth of its planned total of five aircraft in March 2013 , No . 36 Squadron , which took delivery of its sixth and final Globemaster in November 2012 , No . 38 Squadron , operating King Airs , and the Australian Army ' s 68 Ground Liaison Section . All units are based at Amberley , with the exception of No . 38 Squadron , located at Townsville .