The squadron was first formed in December 1943 as part of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and saw combat in and around New Guinea during 1944 and 1945 equipped with P-40 Kittyhawk fighters.
On 28 March 1942, a USAAF P-40E fighter made an emergency landing at "Wheat Hill" station, after becoming lost in fog during a flight from Canberra.
Other planes that operated from the station also included Curtiss P40 Tomahawks, Miles M.9
Curtiss JN-4 | Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company | Glenn Curtiss | Curtiss P-40 Warhawk | Curtiss-Wright | Curtiss | Roy Curtiss | John Curtiss Underwood | Curtiss V-1570 | Curtiss OX-5 | Curtiss-Wright CW-19 | Curtiss Robin | Curtiss NC | Curtiss Flying School | Curtiss Candy Company | Curtiss C-6 | The aircraft Curtiss Robin "St. Louis" (right) during the record flight July 13–30, 1929, St. Louis, Missouri. Its operators were Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine. A Flight endurance record | Louis Curtiss Studio Building | Louis Curtiss | Curtiss-Wright CW-12 | Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company | Curtiss PN-1 | Curtiss Model H | Curtiss F11C Goshawk | Curtiss A-8 | 1918 Curtiss Jenny airmail stamps |
The squadron was deployed to Iceland with P-40 Warhawk fighters as part of the Iceland Base Command (IBC) as part of a bilateral agreement with the Icelandic Government to provide air defense of their nation.
From England Bodo was sent to the USA where in 1944 he trained on US fighter planes (the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk) at the Royal Netherlands Military Flying-School in Jackson, Mississippi.
It was restored and marked as 32-240 of 17th Pursuit Squadron, missing on a flight over Lake Erie on 24 September 1932.
The museum collection includes a Lockheed T-33 jet trainer, Douglas C-47, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Aero L-29 Delfín Soviet jet trainer, the oldest Stolp Starduster biplane in the world and many other civilian airplanes.
Some notable ones include: most of the famous World War I fighters in 1:48 and 1:72 scales, P-40, P-39 and Fw 190 fighters, the Dassault Mirage III, and most recently, a Bf 110C/D, all in 1:48.
The equipment consisted of some 200-240 aircraft, including Curtiss Hawk 75As, Fokker D.XXIs, Morane-Saulnier MS.406s, Gloster Gladiator IIs, Curtiss P-40M, LaGG-3, Fokker C.Xs, Westland Lysanders, VL Viima IIs, VL Myrsky IIs, Blackburn Ripon IIFs, and Bristol Blenheim Mk.Is.
At 0745, four P-40s fighters of 78 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force operating out of Kiriwina, flew over and Lieutenant Hall asked them by radio to investigate the schooner.
The first American aircraft landed at Munda on August 14, 1943 with landings by F4U Corsairs piloted by Robert Owen of VMF-215, a 44th Fighter Squadron (44th FS) P-40 Warhawk and a J2F Duck with Marine Brigadier General Francis P. Mulcahy aboard.
A portion of one of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft Ray Melikian flew during World War II is also displayed at the Museum of Charters Towers.
One major unit served at Marysville Army Airfield, the 369th Fighter Group, a Replacement Training Unit that trained on A-36 Apaches, P-39 Airacobras, and P-40 Warhawks.