No . 82 Wing RAAF No . 82 Wing is the strike and reconnaissance wing of the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . It is headquartered at RAAF Base Amberley , Queensland . Coming under the control of Air Combat Group , the wing operates F / A - 18F Super Hornet multirole fighters and Pilatus PC - 9 forward air control aircraft . Its units include Nos . 1 and 6 Squadrons , operating the Super Hornet , and No . 4 Squadron , operating the PC - 9 . Formed in August 1944 , No . 82 Wing operated B - 24 Liberator heavy bombers in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II . Initially comprising two flying units , Nos . 21 and 24 Squadrons , the wing was augmented by 23 Squadron in 1945 . After the war its operational units became Nos . 1 , 2 and 6 Squadrons . It re - equipped with Avro Lincoln s in 1948 and , from 1953 , English Electric Canberra jets . Both types saw action in the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s ; the Canberras were also deployed in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1971 . Between 1970 and 1973 , as a stop - gap pending delivery of the long - delayed General Dynamics F - 111C swing - wing bomber , Nos . 1 and 6 Squadrons flew leased F - 4E Phantoms . No . 2 Squadron continued to fly Canberras until it was disbanded in 1982 . After taking delivery of their F - 111Cs in 1973 , Nos . 1 and 6 Squadrons operated the type for 37 years through numerous upgrades , augmented in the mid - 1990s by ex - USAF G models . The forward air control unit joined No . 82 Wing in 2002 . In 2010 , the wing retired its F - 111s and replaced them with Super Hornets as an interim force until the planned entry into Australian service of the F - 35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter . History . World War II . No . 82 ( Heavy Bomber ) Wing — the RAAF ' s first such wing — was formed at Ballarat , Victoria , on 25 August 1944 , under the command of Group Captain Deryck Kingwell . Comprising Nos . 21 and 24 Squadrons , both equipped with B - 24 Liberators , the wing became operational on 11 January 1945 . By this time it was headquartered in the Northern Territory , and came under the control of the RAAF ' s North Western Area Command ( NWA ) . Based at Fenton Airfield , the wing ' s aircraft sank seven Japanese ships in the Dutch East Indies during March . On 6 April , all of its available Liberators joined B - 25 Mitchells of No . 79 Wing in an assault on a Japanese convoy that included the cruiser " Isuzu " . Anti - aircraft fire from the cruiser and other ships , as well as attacks by enemy fighters , resulted in the loss of two Liberators , and the crews ' standard of aerial gunnery was criticised afterwards . Allied submarines sank the damaged " Isuzu " the following day . Later that month , No . 23 Squadron , having recently converted to Liberators from A - 31 Vengeances , was added to No . 82 Wing ' s strength . The wing ' s three flying squadrons identified themselves with black chevrons on the tail fins of their aircraft , No . 21 ' s facing backwards , No . 23 ' s downwards , and No . 24 ' s forwards . The Liberator bombers of No . 82 Wing played both a tactical and a strategic role in the Borneo Campaign , beginning with the lead - up to Operation Oboe One , the invasion of Tarakan on 1 May 1945 . During that month a detachment relocated from Fenton to Morotai , attacking targets in Celebes and Balikpapan prior to Operation Oboe Six , the invasion of Labuan . In June , while the final Allied offensive of the Borneo Campaign got under way as Operation Oboe Two , the Battle of Balikpapan , the remainder of No . 82 Wing transferred from NWA to the command of the Australian First Tactical Air Force in Morotai . In the middle of the month the wing dropped 120 tons of bombs on Balikpapan ' s oil fields and surrounding areas , as well as coastal defence sites . During July it bombed targets at Celebes and Borneo , losing five Liberators for the month , including that of its new commanding officer , Group Captain Donald McLean . McLean died with most of his crew after being hit by anti - aircraft fire and ditching into the sea , a notoriously risky operation in the Liberator owing to the fuselage ' s tendency to break in two upon striking the water . Just before the end of hostilities in the Pacific , the recently established garrison headquarters No . 11 Group unofficially directed the wing ' s operations . Following the Japanese surrender in September 1945 , No . 82 Wing ' s Liberators were converted to transports and used to repatriate RAAF personnel from the South West Pacific . Over the course of its wartime existence , the wing ' s personnel numbered between 3 , 000 and 5 , 000 , of whom more than half were ground crew . Along with its flying squadrons , its complement included No . 24 Air Stores Park , No . 6 Repair and Servicing Unit , and No . 30 Medical Clearing Station . Cold War and after . No . 82 Wing moved to its present location at RAAF Base Amberley , Queensland , in 1946 , where it came under the control of the RAAF ' s Eastern Area Command . In May that year , No . 482 ( Maintenance ) Squadron was formed from No . 4 Repair and Servicing Unit , to be responsible for repair and upkeep of the wing ' s aircraft . Its flying complement now included Nos . 12 ( formerly of No . 85 Wing ) , 21 , and 23 Squadrons , but these were renumbered Nos . 1 , 2 and 6 Squadrons respectively in February 1948 . At the same time , the wartime Liberators were replaced by Avro Lincoln heavy bombers . During 1949 – 50 , some of the Lincolns were specially modified with advanced radar and other instrumentation to participate in Operation Cumulative , a joint program with the Royal Air Force gathering long - range navigation and bombing data for use in potential air campaigns against the Soviet Union . Between 1950 and 1958 — for the first two years under the control of No . 90 ( Composite ) Wing — the Lincolns of No . 1 Squadron were deployed for service in the Malayan Emergency , tasked with the prime responsibility for the Commonwealth ' s bombing campaign against Communist insurgents . This arrangement meant that No . 82 Wing ' s flying units were reduced to Nos . 2 and 6 Squadrons . From 1952 to 1957 , the wing flew observation flights in connection with British atomic tests in Australia . No protective clothing was issued to air or ground crews during these flights and , following the second such operation in October 1953 , nine of the twelve Lincolns involved were found to be contaminated , four so heavily that they were parked in a remote corner of the Amberley air base and never flown again . On 9 April 1953 , the wing wrote off three Lincolns — without loss of life — in two separate incidents that collectively became known as " Black Thursday " ; one of the Lincolns crashed on landing at Amberley during the day , and that night another Lincoln collided with one of its brethren at Cloncurry Aerodrome , Queensland . In December 1953 , No . 82 Wing took delivery of the RAAF ' s first jet bomber , the Canberra Mk . 20 , 48 of which re - equipped the wing ' s three squadrons over the next five years . The new bombers were acquired partly for their capacity to deliver nuclear weapon s , an ordnance option the RAAF seriously investigated but never implemented . Following the re - equipping of Nos . 2 and 6 Squadrons with the Canberra , a Lincoln Conversion Flight was formed in July 1955 under No . 82 Wing to provide training on the older bomber for crews preparing to deploy to Malaya for service with No . 1 Squadron ; it disbanded in March 1956 . Canberras from No . 2 Squadron relieved the Lincolns of No . 1 Squadron in Malaya during 1958 . In January 1959 , No . 1 ( Bomber ) Operational Conversion Unit ( No . 1 OCU ) was established at Amberley under the control of No . 82 Wing . Its role was to convert pilots and navigators to the Canberra , and train them for operations with the three bomber squadrons . In 1964 , No . 82 Wing ' s Canberras were slated for possible bombing and reconnaissance tasks against Indonesian forces under Operation Handover , a little - publicised contingency plan put into effect during the Indonesia – Malaysia " Konfrontasi " , although no combat ensued . No . 2 Squadron Canberras saw extensive action in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1971 , under the control of the USAF ' s 35th Tactical Fighter Wing . The Canberras flew almost 12 , 000 sorties and delivered over 76 , 000 pounds of bombs , for the loss of two aircraft to enemy action , and gained a high reputation for their accuracy . No . 1 OCU was made independent of No . 82 Wing in April 1968 ; its sole purpose from then until its disbandment in June 1971 was to supply trained crews to No . 2 Squadron in Vietnam . Nos . 1 and 6 Squadrons effectively ceased operations in 1968 , while their crews underwent conversion to the General Dynamics F - 111C swing - wing bomber , which was expected to enter service soon afterwards . Between 1970 and 1973 , as an interim measure pending the delayed delivery of the F - 111 , Nos . 1 and 6 Squadrons flew leased F - 4E Phantom s ; meanwhile No . 2 Squadron continued to operate the Canberra , mainly for aerial survey work in Australia and Indonesia , until disbanding in 1982 . The Air Force retained the option to purchase the Phantoms if the F - 111C program was cancelled . Though not as sophisticated an aircraft as the F - 111 , the Phantom was a significant advance over the Canberra , and was highly regarded by its RAAF crews . On 1 June 1973 , the Officer Commanding No . 82 Wing , Group Captain Jake Newham , led the first F - 111Cs in to land at Amberley , a gala occasion attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence , Lance Barnard , the Chief of the Air Staff , Air Marshal Charles Read , the Air Officer Commanding Operational Command , Air Vice Marshal Brian Eaton , and a large media contingent . Read ordered Newham to operate the F - 111 with great caution initially , well within limits , lest the controversial aircraft suffer greater damage to its reputation through early attrition . Over its 37 - year career with No . 82 Wing , the F - 111 underwent numerous upgrades , including the Pave Tack infra - red and laser - guided precision weapons targeting system , Harpoon anti - shipping missiles , and advanced digital avionics . Roles within the wing were demarcated such that No . 1 Squadron was the lead strike unit , while No . 6 Squadron was primarily tasked with providing crew conversion training ; No . 6 Squadron was also responsible for reconnaissance missions using specially modified RF - 111Cs until these aircraft were transferred to No . 1 Squadron in 1996 , and flew leased Learjets for survey work between 1982 and 1987 . During 1982 – 83 , four F - 111s from the RAAF ' s original order that had been lost through accidents were replaced by four F - 111As upgraded to C models . In 1992 an order was placed to augment the F - 111C force with fifteen ex - USAF G models , to be operated by No . 6 Squadron . No . 82 Wing was awarded the Duke of Gloucester Cup as most proficient RAAF unit of 1994 , in part for its success in introducing the F - 111G with minimal additional staff . Alan Stephens , in the official history of the post - war Air Force , described the F - 111 as " the region ' s pre - eminent strike aircraft " and the RAAF ' s most important acquisition . The closest the bombers came to being used in anger , however , was during the Australian - led INTERFET intervention into East Timor in September 1999 . Both F - 111 squadrons were deployed to RAAF Base Tindal , Northern Territory , to support the international forces , and remained there until December . From 20 September , when INTERFET began to arrive in East Timor , the aircraft were maintained at a high level of readiness to conduct reconnaissance flights or air strikes if the situation deteriorated . As it happened , INTERFET did not encounter significant resistance , and F - 111 operations were limited to reconnaissance by the RF - 111Cs from 5 November through 9 December . No . 482 Squadron merged with Amberley ' s No . 3 Aircraft Depot to form No . 501 Wing in March 1992 . The squadron completed its disbandment in June that year . In 1998 the RAAF became the only air force operating the F - 111 , after the USAF retired the type . From 2001 , Boeing Australia performed all F - 111 maintenance under contract . In February 2002 , No . 82 Wing came under the control of the newly established Air Combat Group ( ACG ) , formed by merging Tactical Fighter Group ( TFG ) and Strike Reconnaissance Group ( SRG ) . The reorganisation altered the wing ' s responsibilities , as it transferred lead - in training for the F - 111s to No . 78 Wing at RAAF Base Williamtown , New South Wales , and put No . 82 Wing in charge of the strike capability of No . 81 Wing ' s F / A - 18 Hornet fighters , also based at Williamtown . No . 82 Wing ' s role was reiterated as " precision strike and reconnaissance " ; the Forward Air Control Development Unit ( FACDU ) , flying Pilatus PC - 9 s , was added to its strength . The merger of TFG and SRG was designed to position the Air Force to replace both the F - 111 and the F / A - 18 with a single Joint Strike Fighter ( JSF ) . In 2007 , the Australian government decided to retire all of the F - 111s by 2010 , and acquire 24 F / A - 18F Super Hornets as an interim replacement , pending the arrival of the F - 35 Lightning JSF then under development . The F - 111 fleet was considered to be at risk due to fatigue issues , and too expensive to operate as each aircraft required 180 hours of maintenance for every hour of flying time . No . 82 Wing began re - equipping with the Super Hornet in 2010 , and the last F - 111s were retired on 3 December that year . FACDU was combined with the RAAF Special Tactics Project in July 2009 to form No . 4 Squadron . The following year , No . 82 Wing became home to No . 5 Flight , which was responsible for training personnel to operate the RAAF ' s two IAI Heron unmanned aerial vehicles based at Kandahar in Afghanistan . The Air Force acquired a third Heron in 2011 , based in Australia and operated by No . 5 Flight . As of that year , the F - 35 was not expected to enter Australian service until 2018 . The RAAF hoped to be able to sell off its Super Hornets " with very low kilometres on the clock " by 2020 , but this would depend on delivery of the replacement F - 35s . In April 2013 , No . 5 Flight was transferred from No . 82 Wing to Surveillance and Response Group ' s No . 92 Wing . The following month , the Federal government announced plans to purchase twelve Boeing EA - 18G Growler s to supplement the Super Hornet fleet .