Central Flying School and the teams before

The Roulettes belong to the RAAF’s Central Flying School at East Sale in Victoria, and they were not its first team. The Red Sales flew Vampires from 1962 until four of their aircraft flew into the ground near East Sale on 15 August 1962, killing six aircrew; the investigation blamed poor height judgement at the bottom of a low formation barrel roll. The Telstars followed in 1963 and later moved to the Macchi before being disbanded for budget reasons. In 1970 the school formed the Roulettes to mark the RAAF’s 50th anniversary in 1971, and the team flew its first display at Point Cook in December 1970.

The Macchi years

The first Roulettes flew four Aermacchi MB-326H jet trainers, built locally as the Macchi. According to the team history kept by aerobaticteams.net, a fifth aircraft joined in late 1973, the first five-ship public display followed in March 1974 and the team flew its first overseas display at Papua New Guinea’s independence celebrations in 1975. For the RAAF’s diamond jubilee in 1981 it expanded to seven aircraft before returning to five. The last Macchi display was flown at Lakes Entrance in June 1989.

The Pilatus PC-9 era

From late 1989 the Roulettes flew the Pilatus PC-9/A turboprop, the aircraft that had replaced the Macchi as the RAAF’s advanced trainer. The change suited the team’s place inside a training school: its pilots are qualified flying instructors who keep their instructional duties and fly the display around them. The PC-9/A era lasted three decades and gave the team the red, white and blue scheme with a large R on the fin. In February 2011 an engine fire at RAAF Base Pearce briefly grounded the fleet, but six aircraft were flying at the Avalon Airshow in March.

Collisions and lessons

Two practice collisions near East Sale shaped the team. On 15 December 1983 Roulettes 2 and 3 collided head-on over the planned crowd line during a full show practice, and both pilots were killed. A collision on 11 March 1988 ended with one pilot ejecting and the other landing safely. On 21 January 2005 two PC-9/As touched during a rejoin; one pilot ejected with minor injuries and the other landed his damaged aircraft. The report into the 2005 accident made 47 recommendations, barred the barrel-roll rejoin that had caused it, and cleared the team to return to six aircraft.

The Roulettes on the PC-21

The RAAF received its first PC-21s at East Sale on 11 August 2017, and in 2019 the Roulettes converted to the type, flying their first public PC-21 display in October 2019; the PC-9/A left the team in March 2019. The RAAF describes six aircraft and seven team members, flying two six-month display seasons a year. Displays go as low as 250 feet at up to 370 knots, with aircraft about three metres apart and pilots pulling up to 6 g. The team regularly flies over major public events, such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April 2026.