Big Things in Store

Designed in the early 1960s, the North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco was unlike anything then in the US inventory, both in appearance and performance.

Although the aircraft never wore Australian livery and was never part of the country’s air force, a large number of Australians flew this type of aircraft in combat.

Image: Squadron Leader (later Air Vice Marshal) Graham Neil in front of a OV-10A Bronco from the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron, United States Air Force. It is fully armed with rockets and the starboard side pair of M60 C machine guns.

To pilot Geoffrey Talbot the F-111 was simply “magnificent”.

“It’s very difficult to explain to somebody what it’s like flying at 600 miles an hour, two or three hundred feet above the ground, in total darkness and not be able to see a darn thing,” the retired air commodore said.

In this episode of Collected we examine the innovative design and overseas deployment of the Australian-made Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle. In conversation with Memorial curator Nick Fletcher, and through the oral histories of Australian service personnel, learn how this much-loved vehicle transports combat troops over rugged terrain and and saves lives in war zones.

The massive blast lifted the 15-tonne lead vehicle onto two wheels, where it paused before slamming back onto the ground. It was the second time David had been in a vehicle hit by an IED.

An armored vehicle driver and crew commander with B Squadron, 3/4 Cavalry Regiment, David had deployed to Afghanistan in June 2011 as part of Combat Team Alpha from the Royal Australian Regiment’s 2nd Battalion during Operation Slipper.

During the Second World War, 10,000 Australians served in British-based Bomber Command. More than one in three were killed during air raids over Europe, in training, or in accidents. In this episode of the Collected podcast, Louise Maher explores the remarkable history of the Memorial’s Lancaster Avro ‘G for George’ and the stories of the men who flew in these heavy four-engined bombers.

Towards the end of World War Two, Japan built and mobilised thousands of killer boats to defend its homeland and occupied territories from possible Allied invasion. In Episode 18 of Collected, Louise Maher discovers how one of these Shinyo suicide launches was captured by Australian troops in Borneo and used for joyrides after the war before finding a permanent home at the War Memorial.

The Australian tail gunners who served in World War Two had a particularly dangerous job. They spent hours in cramped, freezing conditions, perched in Perspex turrets at the rear of bomber planes, vulnerable to enemy fire and often exposed to the elements. In Episode 25 of Collected, Louise Maher is shown a gun turret that survived the war and hears the stories of men who lived to tell the tale of bombing raids over Europe.

For Warrant Officer Benjamin Sime, Seahawk 872 is particularly significant. On 24 April 2004, he was serving as a sensor operator on the Seahawk in the Persian Gulf. The helicopter was operating off HMAS Stuart when terrorists in fishing dhows launched a series of attacks against Iraqi oil terminals. 

From pursuing Russian submarines during the Cold War, to the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, the AP-3C Orion is one of the RAAF’s quiet achievers.

It’s been dragged over a land mine, had test shots fired at it and been filled with old machine-gun cartridges, dirt, rust and rubbish. It’s had soldiers’ names scratched into it, been pulled to pieces and put back together again, and was even home to a dead rat. And now the Japanese Ha-Go tank that Australian soldiers found hopelessly bogged and abandoned 75 years ago at the battle of Milne Bay is part of the National Collection at the Australian War Memorial.