Every war the Royal Australian Air Force has fought
The Australian Flying Corps of the First World War is included as the service’s predecessor, and the European figures count Australians in RAF units as well as RAAF squadrons. Victory claims, from the corps’ 527 enemy aircraft to No. 77 Squadron’s five MiG-15s in Korea, are the claimants’ own. On 17 September 2016 RAAF aircraft took part in a coalition strike near Deir ez-Zor that hit Syrian Army positions; Australia acknowledged its part, and the casualty figures are Syrian, Russian and SOHR claims. The 2026 Gulf deployment is given as the government described it, a defensive mission in which Australia was not taking offensive action against Iran. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Australian Flying Corps in Mesopotamia in 1915 to a Wedgetail over the Gulf in 2026.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| First World Warthe Australian Flying CorpsAustralian Flying Corps | 1915–1918 | Ottoman Empire and Germany | Various British types | — | — | |
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Reconnaissance, bombing and fighter operations with four squadrons attached to the British. The Half Flight began work in Mesopotamia on 27 May 1915 under Captain Henry Petre, first on unarmed reconnaissance and then light bombing. No. 1 Squadron fought in Egypt, Palestine and Syria; Nos 2, 3 and 4 Squadrons reached the Western Front between August and December 1917, while four more squadrons trained in Britain. In all 880 officers and 2,840 other ranks served, among them 410 pilots and 153 observers. Lieutenant Frank McNamara won the Victoria Cross in 1917 for landing behind Turkish lines to pick up a downed pilot, and Harry Cobby, with 29 victories, was the leading ace. The corps was disbanded with the Australian Imperial Force in 1919. Outcome Allied victory; the corps was disbanded in 1919 and its people formed the core of the 1921 air force. Victory claims are the squadrons’ own; aircraft types and loss totals were not consolidated in the sources checked.
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| Second World War: Europe, the Mediterranean and the AtlanticBomber Command, the desert and the AtlanticRoyal Australian Air Force (RAAF squadrons and Australians in RAF units) | 1939–1945 | Germany and Italy | Sunderland, Lancaster, Wellingtonand 5 more | — | — | |
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Bomber, fighter and maritime patrol squadrons, plus thousands of Australian aircrew trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme and posted to RAF units. About 20,000 Australians served with Commonwealth air forces in Europe. No. 10 Squadron, already in Britain to collect its Sunderlands, flew the first Commonwealth operation of the war on 10 October 1939 and sank U-boats over the Atlantic. No. 3 Squadron went to the Western Desert in mid-1940 with Gauntlets and Gladiators, moved through Hurricanes, Tomahawks and Kittyhawks, ended the war on Mustangs in Italy and Yugoslavia and was credited with 217.5 enemy aircraft, the most of any RAAF fighter squadron. No. 460 Squadron, formed on 15 November 1941, became the best-known Australian unit in Bomber Command; its Lancaster “G for George”, which flew 90 operations, hangs in the Australian War Memorial. Outcome Allied victory in Europe in May 1945. Total RAAF deaths in Europe and in Bomber Command are given differently in different sources and are not quoted here.
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| Second World War: the PacificDarwin, Port Moresby, Milne Bay and the islandsRoyal Australian Air Force | 1941–1945 | Japan | Kittyhawk, Spitfire, Beaufortand 7 more | — | — | |
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Air defence, strike, maritime patrol and transport; 53 RAAF squadrons served in the Pacific by 1945. The Japanese raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942 came in two waves: 188 carrier aircraft and 54 land-based bombers. The town’s defenders included Wirraways of No. 12 Squadron and Hudsons of No. 13 Squadron. Current research puts the dead at 236–262; the Lowe Commission said about 250; and there were about 100 more raids on northern Australia to November 1943. No. 75 Squadron, formed on 4 March 1942, went to Port Moresby after nine days’ training and was credited with 35 Japanese aircraft in 44 days; at Milne Bay in August and September 1942 its Kittyhawks and those of No. 76 Squadron helped defeat the Japanese landing; the Allied commander called their attacks the decisive factor, according to Wikipedia’s account. By 1945 the RAAF had 216,900 men and women through its ranks and nearly 6,000 aircraft, and was the world’s fourth-largest air force. Outcome Allied victory, August 1945. Darwin casualty and loss figures differ: 10 or 11 ships sunk and 23 or about 30 aircraft destroyed in the two Wikipedia articles used; aerial victory claims are each side’s.
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| Berlin AirliftRoyal Australian Air Force | 1948–1949 | — | Douglas C-47 Dakota (RAF) | 2,062 | 0 | |
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RAAF crews flew transport sorties into Berlin with the RAF. From August 1948 to mid-1949 Australian crews drawn largely from No. 36 Squadron flew into blockaded Berlin, delivering more than 7,300 tonnes of supplies and carrying over 7,000 passengers. Outcome The Soviet blockade was lifted in May 1949. Aircraft were RAF-owned; the type is not named in the sources checked. |
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| Malayan EmergencyRoyal Australian Air Force | 1950–1960 | Malayan National Liberation Army | Avro Lincoln, Douglas C-47 Dakota, Canberraand 1 more | — | — | |
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Bombing and transport against the communist insurgency, then air defence from Butterworth. Australia committed two RAAF squadrons, one bomber and one transport, in June 1950. No. 1 Squadron’s Lincolns flew from Singapore for eight years and dropped over 14,000 tonnes of bombs, about 85 per cent of the Commonwealth total. In 1958 No. 2 Squadron’s Canberras replaced them and Sabres arrived at Butterworth, which remained an RAAF base until it was handed to Malaysia in 1988. Outcome The Emergency was declared over in 1960. The sources checked give bomb tonnage, not results.
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| Korean WarNo. 77 SquadronRoyal Australian Air Force | 1950–1953 | North Korea, China and Soviet Union (air units) | Mustang, Gloster Meteor F.8, Douglas C-47 Dakota | 18,872 | — | |
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Fighter and ground attack with No. 77 Squadron; transport from Japan. No. 77 Squadron was in Japan on occupation duty when the war began and flew its first sortie on 2 July 1950, the first Commonwealth and UN unit in action according to the AWM. Its commanding officer, Wing Commander Lou Spence, was killed on 9 September when his Mustang failed to pull out of a dive. In April 1951 it converted to the Meteor F.8, which proved no match for the MiG-15; after costly air battles it returned to ground attack in July 1951 and spent the rest of the war on it. No. 36 Squadron’s Dakotas, from Iwakuni, flew more than 900 freed Commonwealth prisoners out in July and August 1953. Over 17,000 Australians served in the war and 340 were killed. Outcome Armistice, 27 July 1953. MiG claims are the squadron’s credited figure.
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| Indonesia–Malaysia ConfrontationRoyal Australian Air Force | 1963–1966 | Indonesia | Sabre, Canberra | — | — | |
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Air defence from Butterworth with Sabres; transport. RAAF Sabres and Canberras already in Malaysia stayed on through the Confrontation, guarding the peninsula from Butterworth while Australian ground forces fought in Borneo. Outcome Ended with the 1966 agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia. Detail on RAAF deployments during the Confrontation was thin in the sources reached.
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| Vietnam WarCaribous, Iroquois and CanberrasRoyal Australian Air Force | 1964–1972 | North Vietnam and Viet Cong | DHC-4 Caribou, Bell UH-1 Iroquois, Canberra B.20and 1 more | — | — | |
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Tactical transport, battlefield helicopters for the 1st Australian Task Force, and bombing with the USAF. The RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam took Caribous to Vung Tau in August 1964; as No. 35 Squadron, “Wallaby Airlines”, it flew until 13 February 1972. No. 9 Squadron’s Iroquois supported the task force at Nui Dat from 30 June 1966 to 8 December 1971. No. 2 Squadron flew Canberras from Phan Rang with the USAF’s 35th Tactical Fighter Wing from April 1967 to June 1971; US and RAAF assessments credited it with 786 enemy confirmed killed. One of its lost Canberras, A84-231, vanished in 1970; the crew, Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver, were found in 2009. Sabres of No. 79 Squadron guarded Ubon in Thailand under SEATO from 1962 to 1968 and saw no combat. Outcome RAAF units left between June 1971 and February 1972. Damage and casualty assessments for the bombing are the attackers’ own.
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| East Timor (INTERFET)Operations Spitfire and WardenRoyal Australian Air Force | 1999–2000 | — | C-130 Hercules, DHC-4 Caribou, F-111Cand 3 more | — | 0 | |
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Evacuation and airlift into Dili and Baucau; fighters and strike aircraft on standby at Tindal. From 6 September 1999 RAAF C-130s evacuated people from Dili and Baucau. INTERFET, led by Australia, deployed from 20 September; the RAAF flew 13 Hercules and three Caribous, while up to 10 F-111s and 12 Hornets waited at Tindal as a deterrent and for close air support if needed. The force grew to over 11,500 from 22 nations, 5,500 of them Australian. Outcome INTERFET handed over to the UN on 28 February 2000.
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| Afghanistan and the war on terrorOperations Slipper and HighroadRoyal Australian Air Force | 2001–2021 | Taliban and al-Qaeda | F/A-18 Hornet, Boeing 707, C-130 Herculesand 2 more | — | — | |
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Air defence of Diego Garcia, tanking, airlift, maritime patrol and Heron drone reconnaissance; airspace control at Kandahar. Hornets of No. 77 and then No. 3 Squadron guarded Diego Garcia from December 2001 to May 2002, and Boeing 707 tankers flew from Manas in Kyrgyzstan. Hercules carried the ADF’s logistics for over a decade, Orions patrolled from the Gulf, and a Control and Reporting Centre ran airspace at Kandahar. The last Heron drone detachment left Afghanistan in December 2014. In August 2021 the RAAF flew evacuation flights out of Kabul as the Taliban took the city. Outcome Slipper ended on 31 December 2014; RAAF flights evacuated people from Kabul in August 2021.
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| Iraq WarOperations Falconer and CatalystRoyal Australian Air Force | 2003–2009 | Iraq | F/A-18 Hornet, C-130H Hercules, AP-3C Orionand 1 more | 350 | 0 | |
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Escort, close air support and interdiction by No. 75 Squadron; transport, tanking and maritime patrol. Fourteen Hornets of No. 75 Squadron, with about 250 personnel, deployed with three C-130Hs, two AP-3Cs and two 707 tankers. They began by escorting high-value coalition aircraft; when Iraqi air defences proved negligible they moved to close air support and interdiction for US Army and Marine units, under rules that kept them out of Baghdad’s missile zone and urban close air support. Orions and Hercules stayed under Operation Catalyst until July 2009. Outcome Saddam Hussein’s government fell in April 2003; the last RAAF aircraft left in July 2009.
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| Operation OkraIraq and Syria against the Islamic StateRoyal Australian Air Force | 2014–2024 | Islamic State | F/A-18F Super Hornet, F/A-18A Hornet, E-7A Wedgetailand 1 more | — | 0 | |
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Strike, airborne control and tanking for the US-led coalition. The Air Task Group began operations from Al Minhad in October 2014 with six Super Hornets of No. 1 Squadron, an E-7A and a KC-30A; Hornets of Nos 75 and 77 Squadrons rotated through from March 2015 to 2017, and strikes extended to Syria in 2015. On 17 September 2016 two RAAF F/A-18As and an E-7A were part of a coalition strike near Deir ez-Zor that hit Syrian Army positions. Syria and Russia reported 62 to more than 90 soldiers killed (Syria later said 106); the coalition’s investigation found the strike was made in good faith against what was believed to be the Islamic State, and Australia acknowledged its part and offered condolences. More than 4,800 ADF personnel served on Okra. Outcome Last RAAF strike 14 January 2018; last air rotation September 2020; operation closed 20 December 2024. Casualty figures for Deir ez-Zor are Syrian, Russian and SOHR claims; the coalition did not give one.
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| Operation Kudu: Wedgetail over Europeprotecting the Ukraine aid routeRoyal Australian Air Force | 2023–2025 | — | E-7A Wedgetail | — | 0 | |
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Airborne surveillance protecting the gateway for aid into Ukraine; no combat. An E-7A deployed to Europe in October 2023 for six months to watch over the supply route into Ukraine. At NATO’s request a second Wedgetail and up to 100 personnel supported Poland from August to November 2025. Outcome Two deployments completed: October 2023 to April 2024 and August to November 2025.
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| Defensive deployment to the GulfE-7A to the UAERoyal Australian Air Force | 2026 | — | E-7A Wedgetail | — | — | |
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Airborne surveillance to help protect civilians and partners’ airspace; the government stated Australia was not taking offensive action against Iran. During the 2026 conflict involving Iran, the government announced on 10 March 2026 that an E-7A Wedgetail and supporting personnel (85 according to Wikipedia) would deploy to the Gulf, and that AMRAAM missiles would be supplied to the UAE. The Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Foreign Minister said Australia was not taking offensive action against Iran. Wikipedia’s account of the war records that the US President criticised Australia, Japan and South Korea for not joining US-led attacks. Outcome Announced on 10 March 2026 for an initial four weeks; the end date was not confirmed in the sources checked. Duration and activity of the deployment were not published in the sources reached.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Australian War Memorial: Korean War 1950–5377 Squadron first Commonwealth and UN unit in action; conversion to Meteors; 17,000 Australians served, 340 killed.
- Australian War Memorial: Vietnam War 1962–75Caribou flight to Vung Tau August 1964; Iroquois with the task force; Canberras 1967; over 60,000 Australians served, 523 died.
- DVA Anzac Portal: Malayan Emergency 1948–1960Two RAAF squadrons committed June 1950; eight RAAF deaths (AWM Roll of Honour); Butterworth handed to Malaysia in 1988.
- DVA Anzac Portal: Indonesian Confrontation 1962–1966Background and timeline of the Confrontation; no RAAF unit detail on the page.
- Department of Defence: Operation OkraEstablished 2014, now ceased; more than 4,800 ADF personnel deployed; Air Task Group, Task Group Taji, Special Operations Task Group.
- Defence Ministers: Australia deepens collaboration with NATO (26 June 2025)E-7A to Europe for Poland at NATO’s request, August to November 2025, up to 100 personnel, Operation Kudu.
- Defence Ministers: Australia to provide defensive military assistance to Gulf (10 March 2026)E-7A Wedgetail and personnel for an initial four weeks; AMRAAMs for the UAE; Australia not taking offensive action against Iran.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Royal Australian Air Force.