BLACK HAWKS SWOOP B ACK INTO T OWN
BLACK Hawk helicopters have returned to the skies above Townsville. The iconic aircraft farewelled Townsville in 2014, replaced by MHR- 90 Taipans. Black Hawks from Sydney’s 6th Aviation Regiment will be taking part in military training over Townsville until the end of the month.
THE UH- 60 Black Hawks have returned “home” to Townsville.
Until the end of the month, the iconic military aircraft from 6th Aviation Regiment in Sydney will be flying around the city and its surrounds as part of a military training exercise.
If the flying machines were people, they would be welcomed back with open arms judging by the amount of people who watched a pair of choppers take off from Victoria Park yesterday.
From inside a Black Hawk, flying at 270 feet above the city yesterday, people could be seen turning their heads to the skies to marvel at the low- flying machines.
From that height the city gets turned into a miniature version of itself. Anglers and sunbakers enjoying the afternoon sun look like toy figurines.
Major Richard Ward, from the 16th Aviation Brigade, said the Black Hawks were part of Townsville’s history.
“For the Townsville com- munity, and the Army as a whole, the home of the Black Hawk was always Townsville,” Major Ward said.
He said the tragic crash in June 1996, when 18 servicemen were killed, strengthened the bond between Townsville and the Australian Defence Force.
The fatal incident on High Range was Australia’s biggest peacetime military disaster.
“The ’ 96 accident is a turning point for Army Aviation, but I also believe, it’s a point when Townsville got behind Army Aviation and really formed that strong bond, in that it was an event that affected everybody,” Major Ward said.
“We learned a lot from it, we’ve come a long way since there and it’s definitely not forgotten.
“I definitely believe it’s a big part of Townsville as a city’s history and not be forgotten.
“There are numerous memorials and services held between the two units involved at the time of the incident.”
But Major Ward said Townsville’s ties with the Black Hawks extended beyond the one tragedy.
He said when the Black Hawks were based in Townsville, since replaced by the modern MRH 90 trooplift helicopters, they flew disaster relief missions to Pakistan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
“The big one that will come to everyone’s mind, while serving in Townsville, was the Timor- Leste period,” he said.
“( It was) one of the longest deployments by Army Aviation and indeed the ADF.
“Then domestically, all we have to do is look a little further south for the Queensland floods, where the aircraft when called upon at a moment’s notice rescued the people of Australia.
“The history of the aircraft is very much embedded here in Townsville despite the fact they have moved down to Sydney and been replaced by modern aircraft we now have it’s always great to come and visit this location and the home of the Black Hawk.”
The Black Hawks will leave Townsville on August 31. Training flights will be during the afternoon and evening, finishing at 11.30pm.
LOST in all the media fog over past days was the 73rd anniversary of Victory in the Pacific in World War II.
Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 after US aircraft dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima, then Nagasaki.
Until these devastating attacks Japan had shown no inclination to end hostilities, despite Allied preparations to invade the Japanese mainland.
Historians can only speculate what that may have cost in lives and materiel, or whether it would even have succeeded as had the Allied invasion of Europe 14 months earlier.
Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945 when Germany surrendered.
However, despite Japan’s capitulation, formal surrender ceremonies would not happen until September 2, when US General Douglas McArthur formally received Japanese representatives aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Even then there was division among the Allies about how to describe the occasion.
Britain, America and New Zealand described the occasion then and continue to do so as Victory over Japan Day.
For reasons now unknown, the Australian Government described it as VP Day and gazetted a public holiday.
It is not true that Australia also originally described it as VJ Day, then surreptitiously changed it later.
Perhaps it is an early example of the political correctness which now seems to control our language and expressions.
Whatever the name, for war- weary Australians it marked the end of six years of hostilities.
It provided the opportunity for the men and women who had been on active service to return home.
It also marked the end of captivity for those Australians who had endured and more tellingly survived four years of privation in Japanese POW camps.
Those held POW in German camps had already been released and were being repatriated.
Captured German, Italian and Japanese combatants held prisoner in Australia would also be sent home.
For many Australian families there would be no return.
Just over 993,000 Australians served during the war, of whom 27,073 were killed in action or died, 23,477 were wounded and 30,560 taken prisoner.
They represent the bare statistics, for the hidden costs of war, those permanently incapacitated in body and mind and those left widowed or orphaned, were part of the price.
However, to the victors go the spoils, so it was also a time for retribution against those who were alleged to have committed war crimes.
This process would take some time to complete, although the Japanese and German leadership would pay a harsh price for atrocities committed on their watch.
There was also the matter of the war dead, so for years afterwards war graves teams retrieved bodies from field burials where they were known for reburial in large cemeteries such as those at Bomana, Laue at Bita Paka in PNG and at Labuan in Borneo.
Since it is 73 years since the end of that war, we are now witnessing the passing of surviving veterans of the conflict.
Soon they will be all gone, the only remnants their names and histories.
Lest we forget.