Our Journey

After Darwin was devastated by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974, the RAAF led the effort to go to the city’s relief. Although the RAAF Base had not been spared in the destruction, as soon as the storm abated its personnel immediately set to work clearing debris from runways to allow limited operations to be restored. The first aircraft to use the airfield was a RAAF Dakota which had been flown south the previous day to escape the cyclone. Meanwhile, a C-130 Hercules configured for medical evacuation had been dispatched from Richmond, NSW, during the mid-afternoon. After diverting to Mount Isa, Queensland, to collect an official party that had got that far by RAAF BAC-111, the flight reached Darwin at 10 pm and landed on the runway marked only by flares ‘under extremely marginal conditions using the aircraft’s radar’

Three Hercules transports that were previously used to fly humanitarian relief missions around South Vietnam, to ameliorate the sufferings of the civilian population in the face of a massive Communist offensive, were used to evacuate Australia’s Ambassador and Embassy staff from Saigon. Flying in from their temporary base at Bangkok, the first Hercules departed carrying Vietnamese nationals (including orphans and nuns) approved for evacuation, while the second took off at 7 pm with the Ambassador and the last 10 members of his staff, along with some Australian journalists and Vietnamese refugees. The third aircraft touched down subsequently to bring out remaining luggage from the Embassy, and four airfield defence guards who could not be accommodated on the previous overcrowded flight. A Dakota from Butterworth made the final RAAF flight the next day. Saigon fell on 30 April, ending the Vietnam War.