Royal Australian Air Force squadron
Military unit
No. 77 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron headquartered at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales. It is controlled by No. 81 Wing, part of Air Combat Group, and equipped with Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II multi-role stealth fighters. 
The squadron was formed at RAAF Station Pearce, Western Australia, in March 1942 and saw action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, operating Curtis P-40 Kittyhawks. After the war, it re-equipped with North American P-51 Mustangs and deployed to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. The squadron was about to return to Australia when the Korean War broke out in June 1950, after which it joined United Nations forces supporting South Korea. It converted from Mustangs to Gloster Meteor jets between April and July 1951 and remained in Korea until October 1954, claiming five MiG-15s and over five thousand buildings and vehicles destroyed during the war for the loss of almost sixty aircraft, mainly to ground fire.
No. 77 Squadron re-equipped with CAC Sabres at Williamtown in November 1956. Two years later it transferred to RAAF Butterworth in Malaya to join the air campaign against communist guerrillas in the last stages of the Emergency. The squadron remained at Butterworth during the 1960s, providing regional air defence during the "Konfrontasi" between Indonesia and Malaysia. It returned to Williamtown in early 1969 to re-equip with Dassault Mirage III supersonic jet fighters. No. 77 Squadron began converting to McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters in June 1987. It supplied a detachment of four aircraft to the American base on Diego Garcia in 2001–02, supporting the war in Afghanistan, and deployed to the Middle East as part of the war against the Islamic State in 2015–17. Along with its Hornets, the squadron briefly operated Pilatus PC-9s in the forward air control role in the early 2000s. It began converting to F-35A Lightnings in January 2021.
Role and equipment.
No. 77 Squadron is located at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales, and controlled by No. 81 Wing, which is part of Air Combat Group. No. 81 Wing maintains three fighter squadrons for offensive and defensive counter-air operations. As well as air-to-air combat, No. 77 Squadron is tasked with land strike, close air support and maritime strike missions. Its staff includes maintenance, supply and other support personnel. The unit motto is "Swift to Destroy" and the crest features an oriental temple lion, a legacy of No. 77 Squadron's role in the Korean War. Nicknamed the "grumpy monkey", the lion represents "a defender of peace, which, when disturbed, is swift to destroy".
The squadron is equipped with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II multi-role stealth fighter, which it began operating in January 2021. Capable of 9G manoeuvres, the single-seat, single-engined F-35 is armed with a 25 mm cannon and can carry short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles and guided air-to-surface ordnance in an internal weapons bay. It can be refuelled in flight by the RAAF's Airbus KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transports. RAAF staff are responsible for day-to-day maintenance of the F-35; deeper-level maintenance is performed by Lockheed Martin through a contract with BAE Systems Australia. No. 77 Squadron regularly undertakes exercises with air forces from South-East Asia, New Zealand and the United States.
History.
World War II.
As the Japanese advanced in the South West Pacific during early 1942, the RAAF hurriedly established three fighter units—Nos. 75, 76 and 77 Squadrons—equipped with Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawks recently delivered from the United States. No. 77 Squadron was formed at RAAF Station Pearce, Western Australia, on 16 March, with a complement of three officers and 100 men. Temporarily commanded by Squadron Leader D. F. Forsyth, the unit was initially responsible for the defence of Perth. Squadron Leader Dick Cresswell assumed command on 20 April. The squadron transferred to Batchelor Airfield near Darwin, Northern Territory, in August, the first RAAF fighter unit to be stationed in the area. Until this time, air defence over Darwin had been provided by the P-40s flown by the USAAF's 49th Fighter Group. No. 77 Squadron moved to another of Darwin's satellite airfields, Livingstone, in September. Among its pilots was John Gorton, future Prime Minister of Australia. No. 77 Squadron saw action defending Darwin from Japanese air raids and claimed its first aerial victory just after 5 a.m. on 23 November 1942, when Cresswell destroyed a Mitsubishi "Betty" bomber. It was the first "kill" for an Australian squadron over the mainland, and the first night victory over Australia. As of 24 December, the unit's strength was twenty-four Kittyhawks.
In February 1943, concurrent with No. 1 Wing and its three Supermarine Spitfire squadrons becoming operational in the Darwin area, No. 77 Squadron was transferred to Milne Bay in New Guinea. Along with Nos. 6, 75 and 100 Squadrons it came under the control of the newly formed No. 71 Wing, which was part of No. 9 Operational Group, the RAAF's main mobile formation in the South West Pacific Area. No. 77 Squadron registered its first daytime victory on 11 April, when a Kittyhawk shot down a Mitsubishi Zero taking part in a raid on Allied shipping near Buna. Three days later the Japanese attacked Milne Bay; the squadron claimed four bombers and a fighter for the loss of one Kittyhawk. By this time, Allied headquarters had finalised plans for a drive north to the Philippines involving heavy attacks on Rabaul and the occupation of territory in New Guinea, New Britain and the Solomon Islands.
No. 77 Squadron began moving to Goodenough Island in May 1943, and was fully established and ready for operations by 15 June. As Japanese fighter opposition was limited, the squadron took part in several ground-attack missions in New Britain, armed with incendiary and general-purpose bombs, a practice that had been employed by Kittyhawk units in the Middle East. During one such raid on 2 August, Cresswell's designated successor as commanding officer, Flight Lieutenant Daryl Sproule, was forced to crash-land on a beach and was captured and executed by the Japanese. Cresswell remained in command until Squadron Leader "Buster" Brown took over on 20 August. Japanese fighter strength in New Britain and New Guinea increased in September and October, and eight of No. 77 Squadron's Kittyhawks were briefly detached to Nadzab as escorts for the CAC Boomerangs of No. 4 Squadron, which were supporting the 7th Australian Division. 
In January 1944, No. 77 Squadron took part in the two largest raids mounted by the RAAF to that time, each involving over seventy aircraft attacking targets in New Britain. It was subsequently assigned to Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands, joining Nos. 76 and 79 Squadrons under No. 73 Wing. No. 77 Squadron's ground party went ashore at Los Negros on 6 March, in the middle of a firefight with Japanese forces. Fourteen of the squadron's Kittyhawks arrived a week later, and another ten on 28 March. Their primary duty was providing air cover for Allied shipping, though no Japanese aircraft were encountered; they also flew ground-attack missions in support of US troops on Manus Island. Following the capture of the Admiralties, which completed the isolation of Rabaul, No. 77 Squadron remained with No. 73 Wing on garrison duty at Los Negros from May to July 1944. 
Between 13 August and 14 September 1944, the squadron transferred to Noemfoor in western New Guinea to join Nos. 76 and 82 Squadrons as part of No. 81 Wing under No. 10 Operational Group (later the Australian First Tactical Air Force), which had taken over the mobile role previously performed by No. 9 Group and was supporting the American landings along the north coast of New Guinea. Cresswell, now a wing commander, arrived for his second tour of duty as commanding officer on 26 September. Operating P-40N Kittyhawks, No. 77 Squadron bombed Japanese positions on the Vogelkop Peninsula in October and on Halmahera in November. Cresswell handed over command in March 1945. The squadron moved to Morotai on 13 April and conducted ground-attack sorties over the Dutch East Indies until 30 June, when it redeployed with No. 81 Wing to Labuan to support the 9th Australian Division in North Borneo until hostilities ended in August 1945. The squadron's tally of aerial victories during the war was seven aircraft destroyed and four "probables", for the loss of eighteen pilots killed.
Occupation of Japan.
No. 77 Squadron began re-equipping with North American P-51 Mustangs at Labuan in September 1945. In the wake of Japan's surrender, No. 81 Wing became part of Australia's contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). No. 77 Squadron was the last of the wing's three flying units to deploy to Japan, arriving at Bofu, a former kamikaze base, on 21 March 1946. No. 481 (Maintenance) Squadron provided technical service for the Mustangs. Occupation duties proved uneventful, the main operational task being surveillance patrols, but units maintained an intensive training regime and undertook combined exercises with other Allied forces. Many RAAF personnel were accompanied to Japan by their families.
No. 81 Wing transferred to Iwakuni in April 1948, the same month that the Federal government decided to reduce Australia's contribution to BCOF, retaining only No. 77 Squadron in Japan. Wing headquarters and No. 481 Squadron disbanded in November 1948, and No. 77 Squadron came under the aegis of a new organisation called RAAF Component. The squadron was now the largest operational unit in the RAAF, with a strength of 299 officers and men, forty Mustangs, three CAC Wirraways, two Douglas C-47 Dakotas and two Austers. The Dakotas and Austers formed the No. 77 Squadron Communications Flight. In December 1949, the Mustangs competed in a gunnery competition against three groups of Mustangs and two groups of F-80 Shooting Star jets belonging to the US Far East Air Force (FEAF). No. 77 Squadron's Flight Lieutenant "Bay" Adams achieved the highest individual score of the competition, earning the personal congratulations of Lieutenant Generals George E. Stratemeyer, commander of FEAF, and Horace Robertson, commander of BCOF. The RAAF personnel were preparing to return to Australia when, on 25 June 1950, they were placed on standby for action in the Korean War, which had just broken out.
Korean War.
Led by Wing Commander Lou Spence, No. 77 Squadron was committed to action over Korea as part of United Nations Command (UN), and came under the operational control of the US Fifth Air Force. The Australian unit was specifically requested by General Douglas MacArthur, commander of UN forces; the Mustang was considered the best long-range ground-attack aircraft in the theatre, and Stratemeyer contended that No. 77 Squadron was the best Mustang outfit in Japan. The squadron flew its initial escort and patrol sorties from Iwakuni on 2 July 1950, becoming the first non-American UN unit to commence operations. Several Australian families were still living at Iwakuni pending their repatriation from what had become an operational theatre, and could watch the Mustangs depart for missions over Korea.
A friendly fire incident occurred on 3 July 1950, when No. 77 Squadron attacked a train full of US and South Korean troops on the main highway between Suwon and Pyongtaek, inflicting many casualties, twenty-nine of them fatal. Spence had raised concerns before the mission that the North Koreans could not have penetrated so far south, but was assured by Fifth Air Force controllers that the target was correct; the incident was widely reported in US newspapers but a public statement by Stratemeyer cleared the RAAF of any blame. No. 77 Squadron did not encounter enemy aircraft in the opening phase of the war but often faced intense ground fire. It suffered its first fatality on 7 July when its deputy commander, Squadron Leader Graham Strout, was killed during a raid on Samchok. He was also the first Australian, and the first non-American UN serviceman, to die in Korea.
For the next two months, equipped with bombs, rockets and napalm, No. 77 Squadron supported UN troops retreating before the North Korean advance. To expedite turnaround times between missions, the Mustangs, which were still based at Iwakuni, often refuelled and rearmed at Taegu near the Pusan Perimeter, where UN forces made a last-ditch stand on the southern tip of Korea. One of the squadron's Dakotas regularly flew between Iwakuni and Taegu carrying ordnance and spare parts. According to the official history of the Air Force in 1946–71, the squadron's part in the victory at Pusan earned recognition "not only for the RAAF but also Australia at the highest political levels in the United States". During a visit to Japan in August 1950, Prime Minister Robert Menzies presented the Gloucester Cup to No. 77 Squadron as the RAAF's most proficient unit of the past year. That month, the squadron claimed thirty-five tanks, 212 other vehicles, eighteen railway engines or cars, and