General Background

Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51 called Mustang by the British had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back.

The Aircraft

The RAAF No. 76 Squadron was formed on March 14, 1942 and spent part of WWII fighting in Italy. At the end of the war the squadron returned to Australia and in September 1945 they traded in their P-40 Kittyhawks and were re-equipped with Mustangs Mk. IV. During WWII the 76th Squadron earned the name the “Hydraulic Squadron” because they were known to lift anything they needed to keep their aircraft operating. The 76th along with two other RAAF squadrons became part of the British Commonwealth Air Force (BCAIR) that was part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). In February 1946 the squadrons were transferred to Borfu, Japan and in February 1948 the 76th moved to Iwakuni, Japan. While in Japan the BCAIR main tasks were to locate and track vessels suspected of smuggling or transporting illegal immigrants. The RAAF squadrons were also responsible for surveillance flights over the area of Japan that the BOCF was assigned. These flights were surveillance patrols to help locate leftover weapons and ordnance. On October 29, 1948 the 76th Squadron was officially disbanded only to be reformed in 1949.