Article - RAAF Pearce - Flight Training School Western Australia - 2019

RAAF Pearce
Flight Training School Western Australia

History

The name Pearce honours a former West Australian Senator, Sir George Foster Pearce PC KC VO who served as Defence Minister four times from 1910 to 1913.

In 1928, Air Marshal Sir John Salmond (RAF) recommended that a Citizen Air Force Squadron equipped with bombing aircraft be established in Western Australia at Perth. Its function was to assist with the training of Army units and provide security against sea borne attacks. In 1936 construction began at Bullsbrook, 44 kms North East of Perth. In 1937 23 (City of Perth) Squadron was formed at at Laverton Victoria with an allotment of six Hawker Demon aircraft and personnel consisting of four Officers and 68 other ranks. Gradually the base facilities were built up and 23 Squadron transferred its aircraft, personnel and equipment to Bullsbrook. On the 1st January 1939 23 squadron was renumbered 25 squadron and has been known as Western Australia's "Own" ever since. On the 6th February 1939 RAAF Pearce was officially granted station status and began to supply with a mix of Avro Ansons, Hakwer Demons and Avro Cadet trainers. So RAAF Pearce began its wartime service. By mid 1939 both 25 squadron and 14 squadron had been formed, each squadron performing the major task of maritime patrols, but they had still managed to train six Citizen Air Force and eight airmen pilots, the only pilot training carried out at Pearce during the war. Expansion saw the establishment of ground staff recrucit training with 4 Recruit Depot in March 1940 and then aircrew with 5 Initial School in October 1940. Pilots then went on to 9 Elementary Flying School at Cunderdin then 4 Service Training at Geraldton. Units moved in and out of the base during March 1942 with 35 Squadron forming with mixed civilian aircraft then moving to Maylands, Perth's civil aerodrome and 5 Initial Training School moving to Clontarf boys orphanage in Bentley. This allowed room for 77 Squadron to form with P-40 Kittyhawk fighters who then moved to what is now Perth Airport at Guilford. More changes saw the establishment of 4 Aircraft Depot and 17 Repair and Salvage Unit in May 1942. By 1944 a major change occurred when sealed runways were laid. At the war's end the rapid rundown of the Air Force took place. RAAF Pearce settled back to a training role with 25 Squadron reverting to Citizen Air Force status, training pilots and ground crew using Tiger Moths, Wirraways and P-51 Mustangs.

With the advent of the jet age the current runway could not be lengthened so a new runway running North/South (18/36) was built and the existing runway 05/23 is used as a cross runway although it is now 500ft shorter than its wartime length. 25 Squadron by this time had re-equipped with Vampire trainers. In 1958 RAAF Pearce was chosen to be the home of 1 Applied Flying Training School with Vampire aircraft which had transferred fro Point Cook in Victoria. In 1960 25 Squadron ceased operations as a flying training unit and took up a role as a ground support unit for permanent Air Force squadrons. In 1969 1 Applied Flying Training School was renamed 2 Flying Training School.

From 1968 Macchi MB-326 aircraft took over the training role from the Vampires. In 1989 the MB-326s were in turn superceded by the Pilatus PC-9 which is currently the 2 FTS training aircraft.

In Januray 1990, 25 Squadron resumed as a flying unit using Macchi jets for "lead-in" jet training for pilots progressing to fly F/A-18 Hornets and F-111 Ardvark bombers. Also they provided support to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships at Stirling Naval Base. In 1998 79 Squadron was reformed also using the Macchi jet but this was soon replaced two years later with the BAE Hawk in the same role. 25 Squadron relinquished the flying role and reverted back to a ground support unit

In 1993 the Republic of Singapore Air Force established a flying training school using Siai-Marchetti S211 aircraft. Today No 130 squadron "Pearce Detachment" Republic of Singapore Air Force fly the new Pilatus PC-21 tandom seat trainer.

Based Squadrons and Personnel

RAAF Pearce is today one of the busiest bases in the country in terms of total aircraft movements and is host to the Pilatus PC-9, Pilatus PC-21 and BAE Hawk 127 aircraft. These aircraft are based with the following squadrons along with other based ground units:

No 2 FTS PC-9A and PC-21

No 79 Sqn Hawk 127 fighter/trainer aircraft

No 453 Sqn Pearce flight air traffic control

No 25 (City of Perth) Sqn airbase operations

No 3 Security Forces Sqn Detachment Pearce

No 2 Expeditionary Health Sqn Detachment Pearce

No 130 Sqn Republic of Singapore Air Force PC-21

As of March 2019 the base had over 500 personnel working on a daily basis and these were military, civilian and contractors.

No 2 Flight Training School (2 FTS)

"No 2 FTS conducts advanced flying training for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and RAN pilots. After completing approximately 60 hours of Basic Flying Training on the CT-4 aircraft at Basic Flying Training School (BFTS) in Tamworth NSW, the trainees conduct a conversion onto the PC-9 and advanced flying training at 2 FTS Pearce WA.The course is 39 weeks long and includes 5 weeks of ground school, general flying (stalling/spinning/basic aerobatics/circuits), instrument flying, formation, navigation and combination (all of the above) sorties. The graduate pilot will leave 2 FTS with at least 130 hours on the PC-9 aircraft and are considered to be competent to undertake an operational conversion course onto one of the RAAF/RAN operational types".

Annually 2 FTS will run a total of 4 courses and graduate RAAF and RAN pilots, class size per individual course will vary as does the number of pilots that graduate. The graduate program on 2 FTS mainly normally only trains Australian pilots but for a short period during 2014 to 2015 supported the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in its transition to the T-6 Texan II training aircraft, by training a total of 8 trainees. During 2018 into 2019 2 FTS currently has no International trainees on its courses.

Pilatus PC-9A

For the next 10 months 2 FTS will see big changes in its flight operations at Pearce, with the end in sight for the PC-9 for the RAAF, all remaining PC-9's will be transferred from RAAF East Sale Victoria to Pearce during the coming months. The final course on the PC-9 commenced in February 2019 and will be graduating in December 2019. After almost 30 years of service with the RAAF and 2 FTS, PC-9 flight training will end in 2019. The replacement for the PC-9 is the PC-21, with 30 aircraft being delivered to the RAAF up to March 2019. Almost all of the PC-21s have gone to 1 FTS at East Sale so far, but towards the end of 2018 the PC-21 started to arrive at Pearce. Flight simulators for the PC-21 have already arrived and 2 FTS has currently 4 online in their new Head Quarters building, more will follow later in the year.

The Pilatus PC-21

The PC-21 is labelled as "The Next Generation Trainer" by its manufacturer.

"To train the next generation of military pilots, Pilatus developed the next generation trainer: the PC-21, designed and built specifically with student pilots in mind. With Air Force budgets under continuous pressure, the PC-21 provides a cost-effective and highly efficient training solution. On the PC-21, pilots destined to fly fighter aircraft do not need to transition to jets until much later than those flying conventional trainer aircraft, reducing cost and training time. To achieve this, Pilatus significantly expanded the design and performance envelope to take this single-engine turboprop into an area that was, until now, exclusively the domain of jet trainer aircraft.The PC-21 is as benign and easy to fly for the ab-initio student as it is challenging and rewarding for the pilot preparing for the front line. The capabilities of the PC-21 make it ideally suited to a very wide training envelope. It can be used from day one, eliminating the need for an elementary flying training fleet and also bridging the performance gap between traditional turboprop trainers and expensive lead-in fighters. In this respect, the PC-21 provides significant advantages over traditional turboprops and jet trainers" (from the Pilatus website).

No 79 Squadron

Flown by 79 Sqn the BAE Hawk 127 tandem seat jet trainer/fighter is used for initial training to prepare aircrew for operational conversion to the F/A-18A/B Hornet, F/A-18F Super Hornet and more recently the EA-18G Growler aircraft. The RAAF has a fleet of 33 Hawk 127s based at RAAF Pearce and RAAF Williamtown NSW. The Hawk entered service with the RAAF in 2001.

No 79 squadrons role at Pearce is to conduct phase 1 of the 2 phase Introductory Fighter Course (IFC) curriculum. The scope of training including general flying skills (such as maximum performance handling and aerobatic manoeuvres), instrument flying, close and tactical formation flying, night flying and navigation training. The course usually takes 13 weeks and heavily utilises synthetic training in the form of a flight simulator. On successful completion of phase 1 the trainees are posted to RAAF Williamtown in NSW to complete phase 2 of IFC. The training they receive at Williamtown includes tactical flying skills such as air to air fighting and air to ground weapons delivery. As with 2 FTS, 79 Sqn runs 4 courses per year graduating pilots on completion of IFC-1 and IFC-2.

For our experience on RAAF Pearce 5th March 2019, the Aviation Reporting team and its guests would like to say a big thank you to WGCDR Andrew Brandham, Commanding Officer of 25 Sqn and Defence Force Base Pearce for allowing us to visit and organising the static display photography, SQNLDR Aaron De Passey of 79 Sqn, SQNLDR Andrew Robinson of 2 FTS (B Flt), WOFF Sheila Kennedy from 25 Sqn and the 2 newly graduated trainee's for showing use around their PC-9 aircraft (good luck becoming fighter pilots), finally to Mrs Peta Magorian in the the Command Post Public Affairs for organising, hosting and providing much of the requested information for this article.

Author: Mark Forest

Photography: Mark Forest & Frank Cooper