Formed in March 1942 at RAAF Station Amberley, Queensland, its prime function initially was the assembly and despatch of combat aircraft from the United States; it also performed salvage operations.

The depot was responsible for heavy maintenance of the RAAF's English Electric Canberra jet bombers following their entry into service in 1953.

In the 1970s it began maintaining and upgrading the General Dynamics F-111C swing-wing bomber, along with Bell UH-1 Iroquois and Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

In its first six weeks of operation, it assembled 123 Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters and a dozen Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers.

[4] As the war progressed, Amberley became one of Australia's largest aircraft maintenance facilities, as well as a way station for United States Army Air Forces personnel and equipment bound for operations in the South West Pacific.

3 AD assembled during World War II were Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks, Republic P-43 Lancers, Vultee A-31 Vengeances, Supermarine Spitfires, Grumman F6F Hellcats, and North American P-51 Mustangs.

82 (Heavy Bomber) Wing and its three squadrons of Consolidated B-24 Liberators arrived at Amberley as lodger units between February and April 1946.

[7] In October 1952, when Lincolns flew observation flights as part of Operation Hurricane, the first British atomic test in Australia, No.

3 AD's crest was approved by Queen Elizabeth II in June 1959; the design featured a Maltese cross in azure, symbolising the unit's home state of Queensland, surmounted by a cock's head in gold with a red comb.

3 AD was commanded by Group Captain James Rowland, later Chief of the Air Staff and Governor of New South Wales.

[1] It also maintained the McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms leased to the RAAF from 1970 to 1973 as an interim strike force pending delivery of the long-delayed General Dynamics F-111C.

[16][17] The depot was responsible for major upgrades and complex maintenance involving stripping down the airframe and engines, while intermediate-level servicing was carried out by No.

[18][19] After General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas, had modified the first of four F-111Cs earmarked to be brought up to RF-111C standard for photographic reconnaissance, No.

[1][23] The depot had no familiarity dealing with significant damage to the Chinook, and when one of the helicopters crashed following an engine failure in 1975 the repairs were not completed until 1981.

[1] The process for de-sealing and re-sealing the F-111s fuel tanks, which the depot first undertook between 1977 and 1982 and which lasted six months per aircraft, caused controversy owing to the hazardous working conditions for ground crews.