No. 77 Squadron RAAF

No. 77 Squadron RAAF
No. 77 Squadron's crest
Active1942–current
CountryAustralia
BranchRoyal Australian Air Force
RoleAir-to-air/air-to-surface combat
Part ofNo. 71 Wing (1943)
No. 73 Wing (1943–44)
No. 81 Wing (1944–48, 1987–current)
No. 91 Wing (1950–54)
No. 78 Wing (1955–67)
Garrison/HQRAAF Base Williamtown
Motto(s)"Swift to Destroy"
EngagementsWorld War II Occupation of Japan
Korean War
Malayan Emergency
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
War in Afghanistan
War against the Islamic State
DecorationsPresidential Unit Citation (South Korea)
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Dick Cresswell (1942–43, 1944–45, 1950–51)
Lou Spence (1950)
Gordon Steege (1951)
John Quaife (1996–98)[1]
Mark Binskin (1998–99)[2]
Aircraft flown
FighterLockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

No. 77 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron headquartered at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales. It is controlled by No. 81 Wing, part of Air Combat Group, and equipped with Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II multi-role stealth fighters.

The squadron was formed at RAAF Station Pearce, Western Australia, in March 1942 and saw action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, operating Curtis P-40 Kittyhawks. After the war, it re-equipped with North American P-51 Mustangs and deployed to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. The squadron was about to return to Australia when the Korean War broke out in June 1950, after which it joined United Nations forces supporting South Korea. It converted from Mustangs to Gloster Meteor jets between April and July 1951 and remained in Korea until October 1954, claiming five MiG-15s and over five thousand buildings and vehicles destroyed during the war for the loss of almost sixty aircraft, mainly to ground fire.

No. 77 Squadron re-equipped with CAC Sabres at Williamtown in November 1956. Two years later it transferred to RAAF Butterworth in Malaya to join the air campaign against communist guerrillas in the last stages of the Emergency. The squadron remained at Butterworth during the 1960s, providing regional air defence during the Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia. It returned to Williamtown in early 1969 to re-equip with Dassault Mirage III supersonic jet fighters. No. 77 Squadron began converting to McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters in June 1987. It supplied a detachment of four aircraft to the American base on Diego Garcia in 2001–02, supporting the war in Afghanistan, and deployed to the Middle East as part of the war against the Islamic State in 2015–17. Along with its Hornets, the squadron briefly operated Pilatus PC-9s in the forward air control role in the early 2000s. It began converting to F-35A Lightnings in January 2021.

  1. ^ "Air Vice-Marshals (L–Z)". Air Power Development Centre. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Air Marshals". Air Power Development Centre. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2014.