Central Flying School RAAF Central Flying School ( CFS ) is a Royal Australian Air Force training unit , located at RAAF Base East Sale , Victoria . It operates the Pilatus PC - 9 turboprop trainer . The school is responsible for training flight instructors , setting flying standards , and auditing flying practices . It is also home to the " Roulettes " aerobatic team . CFS was the first military aviation unit to be formed in Australia , in 1913 , when its role was to provide basic flying training . Its current form dates from World War II , when it was re - established to train flight instructors for the Empire Air Training Scheme ( EATS ) . CFS was inaugurated at Point Cook , Victoria , in March 1913 , and trained over 150 pilots of the Australian Flying Corps during World War I . It was disbanded in December 1919 , and the newly formed RAAF ' s No . 1 Flying Training School took on its function in 1921 . Re - formed under EATS at Point Cook in April 1940 , CFS relocated to New South Wales the following month , based first at Camden , then at Tamworth from April 1942 , and finally at Parkes from January 1944 . It returned to Point Cook in September 1944 . By the end of World War II , the school had produced more than 3 , 600 instructors . It transferred to East Sale in November 1947 . Since 1962 , CFS has been responsible for three aerobatic display teams . The first was called " The Red Sales " and flew De Havilland Vampire jet aircraft . A second team , " The Telstars " , was formed in 1963 , also flying Vampires . The Telstars disbanded in 1968 , just after taking delivery of new Macchi MB326H jets , when the RAAF curtailed display flying . The Roulettes formed in 1970 , flying the Macchi , and continued to operate the type until 1990 , when the team completed its conversion to the PC - 9 . As well as the Roulettes , CFS is responsible for the display work of the Air Force Balloons . History . Origins and World War I . In December 1911 , the Australian Department of Defence advertised in the United Kingdom for " two competent mechanists and aviators " to establish a flying corps and school . The following year , Henry Petre , an Englishman , and Eric Harrison , an Australian , were selected and commissioned as lieutenant s in the Australian Military Forces . Petre arrived in Australia in January 1913 ; his first job was to choose a site for the proposed Central Flying School ( CFS ) , which he was to command . Rejecting the government ' s preferred location near the Royal Military College , Duntroon , in Canberra , he selected 297 hectares at Point Cook , Victoria , to become , as George Odgers described it , the " birthplace of Australian military aviation " . Petre and Harrison established CFS over the following year with four mechanics , three other staff , and five aircraft including two Deperdussin monoplanes , two Royal Aircraft Factory B . E . 2 biplanes , and a Bristol Boxkite for initial training . Harrison made the unit ' s first flight in the Boxkite on 1 March 1914 , while Petre , flying a Deperdussin later that day , registered its first accident when he crashed after snaring his tailplane in telephone wires . Its coterie of personnel by now referred to as the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) , CFS commenced its first flying course on 17 August 1914 , two weeks after the outbreak of World War I . The four students included Captain Thomas White and Lieutenants Richard Williams , George Merz , and David Manwell . Williams , who became the first to graduate , recalled the school as a " ragtime show " consisting of a paddock , tents , and one large structure : a shed for the Boxkite . A further eleven courses were run during the war years , graduating 152 pilots to a basic flying standard . Many of these students would go on to play a prominent role in the future Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) , including Bill Anderson , Harry Cobby , Adrian Cole , Frank McNamara , Lawrence Wackett , and Henry Wrigley . The AFC ' s first unit to see active service , the Mesopotamian Half Flight , was raised under Petre ' s command and departed for the Middle East in April 1915 ; Petre ' s fellow pilots included CFS graduates White and Merz . Harrison took over the school ' s leadership in Petre ' s absence . The facilities were improved , and by the end of 1915 , according to Wackett , they boasted " a good engineering workshop " , " cottages for the married staff " and " a very comfortable officers mess " . A year later , three AFC squadrons had been formed at Point Cook for service in the Middle East and France : Nos . 1 , 3 and 4 Squadrons . In September 1918 the school , now made up of No . 1 Home Training Squadron , No . 1 Home Training Depot , and an aircraft repair section , became part of the Australian Imperial Force . Harrison was posted overseas in October and Major William Sheldon , former commanding officer of Nos . 2 and 4 Squadrons , was placed in charge of CFS . Little training took place in the year following the November 1918 Armistice ; staff mainly did " odd jobs " such as making survey flights and promoting government bonds . CFS ' s units were disbanded in December 1919 and the school taken over by the short - lived Australian Air Corps , formed on 1 January 1920 . In 1921 , CFS ' s function was assumed by No . 1 Flying Training School ( No . 1 FTS ) , a unit of the newly formed RAAF . World War II . RAAF flying training was heavily reorganised soon after the outbreak of World War II in response to Australia ' s participation in the Empire Air Training Scheme ( EATS ) . Elementary Flying Training Schools were formed , to provide basic flight instruction to cadets , while more advanced pilot instruction was to take place at Service Flying Training Schools . The most pressing need , however , was for flying instructors ; the RAAF had only sixteen , and at least 1 , 000 were needed to meet Australia ' s obligations under EATS . To train these instructors , the Instructors ' Training Squadron at No . 1 FTS was detached to form the nucleus of a new Central Flying School on 29 April 1940 . Described as the " nerve - centre of the Empire Air Training Scheme in Australia " , it was commanded by Squadron Leader E . C . Bates , RAF , former chief flying instructor at No . 1 FTS . CFS relocated from Point Cook to RAAF Station Camden , New South Wales , on 14 May . Formerly the privately owned Macquarie Grove Aerodrome , Camden was a new air base , and the school ' s facilities cost £ 53 , 000 to construct . On establishment , its personnel numbered 470 officers and airmen , and its complement of aircraft included twenty - three Tiger Moth s , nine CAC Wirraway s , and fourteen Avro Anson s . Among the staff were former civil pilots and instructors , as well as career Air Force officers . Graduates from Camden included Bill Newton , later awarded the Victoria Cross for bombing raids in New Guinea , and Jerry Pentland , a World War I fighter ace with twenty - three victories , who went on to become perhaps the oldest RAAF pilot on active duty . The outbreak of the Pacific War led to an influx of United States Army Air Forces units to Australian bases , including Camden . To make way , CFS moved to Tamworth , New South Wales , during March and April 1942 . Tamworth , however , was not considered a suitable airfield for the school ' s Wirraways , Ansons and Airspeed Oxford s , and a further relocation was deemed necessary , this time to RAAF Station Parkes , New South Wales , on 18 January 1944 . Later that year , CFS moved once more , returning on 19 September to Point Cook . There it gained an aviation medicine section , which in 1956 was detached to form the RAAF School of Aviation Medicine ( later the RAAF Institute of Aviation Medicine ) . CFS remained at Point Cook for the rest of the war , by which time it had graduated some 3 , 600 instructors . Post - war era . The immediate aftermath of the Pacific War saw large - sale demobilisation of RAAF personnel , along with the disposal of equipment and disbandment of units . CFS was allocated resources to ensure the maintenance of Air Force flying standards , but took on no new students . The school relocated from Point Cook to RAAF Station East Sale ( now RAAF Base East Sale ) , Victoria , during November and December 1947 ; its aircraft included seven Tiger Moths , nine Wirraways , three Oxfords , two C - 47 Dakotas , one P - 51 Mustang , and one Avro Lincoln . It then returned to the job of training instructors , graduating its first post - war course in June 1948 . Newspapers reporting on its move to East Sale called CFS the RAAF ' s " university of the air " . Official RAAF historian Alan Stephens described the school as " the Air Force ' s most important peacetime unit " , going on to state that " CFS ' s pre - eminence derived from its role as the Air Force ' s arbiter of pure flying standards , a responsibility it met by training instructors , examining and rating squadron instructors , conducting quality control tests at flying training schools , and auditing flying practices generally across the RAAF . Any fall in standards at CFS could in time be expected adversely to affect standards across the entire Air Force . " Conversely , Stephens continued , the professionalism inculcated at the school flowed through to all flying units . By 1951 , the average student taking the six - month instructors ' course was reported as being a flight lieutenant aged twenty - seven , with 1 , 000 hours flying experience . Wing Commander Charles Read , who later became Chief of the Air Staff , served as commanding officer of CFS from August 1952 to May 1954 . In May 1953 , the school commenced jet instructor training with dual - control De Havilland Vampire s . The CAC Winjeel entered service in 1955 , to replace the Tiger Moth as the Air Force ' s basic trainer , and began operating at CFS the following year . In March 1957 , the school took on the responsibility of training the RAAF ' s air traffic controllers ; this continued until May 1981 , when the RAAF School of Air Traffic Control was formed as an autonomous unit at East Sale . CFS formed its first aerobatic team , called " The Red Sales " , in 1962 . The team consisted of four instructors flying Vampire trainers . On 15 August , they were practising a low - level routine when they flew into a hill at , killing all four pilots and two passengers . Determined to overcome the shock of the accident , the commanding officer of CFS , Wing Commander H . C . Plenty , quickly formed a new aerobatic team called the " The Telstars " , led by himself . Also flying Vampires , the team made its first public display in February 1963 , six months after the Red Sales disaster . In 1965 , Plenty ' s successor as commanding officer , Wing Commander T . J . T . Meldrum , joined an RAAF team charged with selecting a jet trainer to replace both the Winjeel and the Vampire . Led by Air Commodore Brian Eaton , the team chose the Italian Macchi MB - 326H as it met all requirements , could be licence - built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Australia , and was relatively inexpensive . The Telstars began flying the Macchi in February 1968 , but the RAAF cut back on display flying shortly afterwards , and the team disbanded in April . A new aerobatic team flying Macchis , the " Roulettes " , was formed at CFS in August 1970 , in preparation for the RAAF ' s fiftieth anniversary celebrations commencing in March 1971 . The introduction of the Macchi permitted a brief flirtation with " all - through jet training " starting in 1969 , as it was expected to reduce the time necessary to turn out high - quality pilots , and CFS had begun preparing to train instructors for this purpose in 1967 . All - through jet training was dropped in 1971 , subsequently being labelled " an expensive way of finding out that some pupils lacked the aptitude to become military pilots " . Winjeels continued to operate at CFS until replaced by the CT - 4 Airtrainer in August 1975 . For the next fifteen years , the main types used for instructor training were the CT - 4 and the Macchi . CFS also flew Dakotas for twin - engined instructor courses until March 1980 ; they were additionally used to train pilots of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force . The school was presented with the Queen ' s Colour by Governor - General Sir Zelman Cowen in September 1978 . In December 1987 , CFS took delivery of its first Pilatus PC - 9 turboprop trainer , to replace the Macchi for advanced flying instructor training . The Roulettes converted to the PC - 9 in 1989 – 90 . The CT - 4 was phased out at the school in favour of the PC - 9 in December 1991 . , CFS continues to operate the PC - 9 for pilot instructor training at East Sale , under the control of the Air Force Training Group ' s Air Training Wing . It also continues to administer flying standards across the RAAF . Practising and performing with the Roulettes , which celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2010 , remains a secondary task for team members after their instructional duties . In addition to the Roulettes ' displays , the school is responsible for the training and public relations work of the Air Force Balloons , which are co - located with No . 28 Squadron at HMAS " Harman " in Canberra . In their role supporting RAAF recruitment and public awareness , the two hot - air balloons are often employed in rural areas as an economical alternative to displays by the Roulettes or other aircraft .