36 Squadron, operating Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy transports, and the Australian Army's 68 Ground Liaison Section.

Formed in the last year of World War II to undertake ground attack missions with de Havilland Mosquitos and Bristol Beaufighters in the South West Pacific theatre, No.

86 Wing was reorganised in 1946 as a transport formation headquartered at RAAF Station Schofields, New South Wales, flying Douglas C-47 Dakotas.

The wing was initially based on the island of Morotai in the South West Pacific theatre, as part of the Australian First Tactical Air Force.

[1] Its order of battle for Operation Oboe Six, the assault on north-west Borneo commencing in June, included Nos.

[2] Delays getting the aircraft operational at their forward base on Labuan meant that the wing only completed three combat missions before the end of the Pacific War, conducting rocket and machine-gun attacks on targets in Sarawak during August 1945.

Formed in May 1945, the squadron was still undergoing training when the war ended, and it was disbanded at RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales, in January 1946.

77 Squadron parked at the airfield; Gulliver and five people on the ground died in the accident, including the then-Officer Commanding No.

[11] The Dakotas initially flew supply missions to the Australian-administered Territory of Papua and New Guinea, as well as three-times weekly courier flights to Japan in support of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.

[15][16] A month earlier, the wing's Dakotas had flown supply and observation flights in connection with the British atomic test on Montebello in Western Australia.

86 Wing to become an independent unit directly administered by Home Command and tasked by RAAF Canberra.

[23][24] Having earlier augmented its complement of Dakotas with Convair 440 Metropolitans, in December 1958 the wing began operating Lockheed C-130 Hercules medium transports, when No.

[25][26] The official history of the post-war Air Force described the Hercules as "probably the biggest step-up in aircraft capabilities" the RAAF ever received, considering it roughly four times as effective as the Dakota, taking into account the improvements in payload, range, and speed.

78 (Fighter) Wing and its two CAC Sabre squadrons deployed to RAAF Base Butterworth between October 1958 and February 1959, seven Dakotas were required to ferry the staff and equipment of No.

36 Squadron's C-130s joined a Commonwealth airlift from Singapore to Borneo at the beginning of the Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia; similar missions were undertaken for another five years.

38 Squadron received the RAAF's first de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou tactical transports in April 1964, replacing its Dakotas.

36 and 38 Squadrons, which along with AMTF became independently operating units under the command of Headquarters RAAF Base Richmond.

[33] Still based at Richmond, the Hercules provided long-range transport and medical evacuation services to and from South East Asia during the Vietnam War.

[36] In the Vietnam and post-Vietnam eras, along with their military transport duties, the Hercules and Caribou undertook disaster relief operations throughout Australia and the Pacific.

486 Maintenance Squadron and Air Movements Training and Development Unit (AMTDU), which had evolved from AMTF in 1965, were also under its control.

32 Squadron, flying Hawker Siddeley HS 748 air navigation trainers at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria, became part of No.

36 Squadron transferred its C-130Hs prior to re-equipping with the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy transports and relocating to Amberley.

86 Wing became well known to the general public through their involvement in disaster relief and emergency transport in Australia and the region, along with their participation in overseas peacekeeping efforts.

[53][54] Hercules and 707s were employed by the Federal government to provide air transport during the pilots' dispute that curtailed operations by the two domestic airlines in 1989, evacuated Australian nationals from the Middle East during the first Gulf War in 1990–91,[55] and transported Australian troops to and from Somalia as part of Operation Solace in 1993.

[56][57] Since the end of the Vietnam War, much of the RAAF's transport tasking had been relatively routine in nature, or involved humanitarian relief; the Somalia operation marked the beginning of a shift for No.

[58] Two detachments from the wing, one of Hercules and one of Caribous, supported INTERFET operations in East Timor between September 1999 and February 2001.

[60] In February 2003, a rotating detachment of three Hercules deployed to the Persian Gulf to support the Australian contribution to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; over the next seven years they amassed 20,000 operational flying hours.

[65] The RAAF's contribution to Operation Papua New Guinea Assist, following Cyclone Guba in November 2007, included a Globemaster, two Hercules, and three Caribous.

[66][67] In September 2008, a Globemaster undertook the type's first aeromedical evacuation in RAAF service, transporting five injured Australian troops to Amberley from Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan.

[69][70] In February that year, Globemasters and Hercules transported medical staff and equipment to New Zealand to aid victims of the Christchurch earthquake.