Hawkesbury is home to Royal Australian Air Force RAAF Base Richmond, our second oldest base and an important logistics and transportation hub.
The Member for Hawkesbury Dominic Perrottet MP recently met with some of the men and women stationed here in Richmond.
“I’m grateful you are part of our community. Thank you for showing me around and thank you for your service,” Mr Perrottet said.
The Richmond RAAF Base has a long and decorated history in our country’s military past. During the First World War, the New South Wales Government established a military flying school at the base, preparing pilots for operations at the Western Front in Europe.
In the last half century, RAAF personnel continued their honourable work from Richmond, without fanfare, supporting operations at home and abroad. Richmond aircraft were among the first to land in Darwin following Cyclone Tracy.
They brought the last Australians out of Saigon during the Vietnam War. They sustained Australian troops on operations in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Drive between Richmond and Windsor and you may see a C-130J Hercules or C-27J Spartan flying overhead. Those aircraft carry our nation’s most precious cargo — young men and women whose service and sacrifice keeps us safe.