2-ші эскадрилья: Австралия Әуе Күштерінің тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

No. 2 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron that operates from RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle, New South Wales. From its formation in 1916 as part of the Australian Flying Corps, it has flown a variety of aircraft types including fighters, bombers, and Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C). During World War I, the squadron operated on the Western Front conducting fighter sweeps and ground attack missions. It was disbanded in mid 1919, following the end of hostilities. The squadron was briefly re raised in 1922 as part of the newly independent RAAF, but was disbanded after only a couple of months and not reformed until 1937. It saw action as a bomber unit in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II and, equipped with English Electric Canberra jets, in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The squadron was again disbanded in 1982, following the retirement of the Canberra. It was re formed in 2000 to operate the Boeing 737 AEW&C "Wedgetail". One of the six Boeing 737s was deployed to the Middle East in September 2014, as part of Australia's contribution to the military coalition against ISIS.

On 20 September 1916, No. 2 Squadron was established as a unit of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) at Kantara, Egypt, drawing personnel mainly from Australian Light Horse units of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Shortly after forming, under the command of Major Oswald Watt, the unit was transferred to the United Kingdom to complete training, arriving at Harlaxton on 30 January 1917. Between February and September 1917, the squadron undertook training with Royal Flying Corps units before being equipped with Airco DH.5 fighters. To differentiate the squadron from the British No. 2 Squadron RFC, it was known to the British military as "No. 68 Squadron RFC". This terminology was never accepted by the AIF who continued to use the AFC designation regardless, and by January 1918 the British designation was officially discontinued. In late September 1917, the squadron flew its aircraft across the English Channel, landing in St Omer without incident or loss – and after overnighting there it moved to Baizieux. Assigned to the 13th Army Wing, RFC, it undertook its first combat operations on the Western Front a month later. Its first major action came during the Battle of Cambrai in November and December when it was heavily involved as a low level ground attack unit, attacking German trenches, but suffering heavy casualties in doing so. On 22 November, the squadron shot down its first German aircraft in air to air combat during a chance encounter on a ground attack sortie. After this, several more German aircraft were shot down by the squadron's pilots before the squadron was withdrawn from operations in December to re equip with Royal Aircraft Factory S. E.5a fighters. In January 1918, the squadron moved to Savy, and the following month gained its first victories with the new aircraft type. During early 1918, the Germans launched a major offensive on the Western Front after the collapse of Russia allowed them to increase their forces in the west. Falling initially against the British southern flank, the offensive pushed the Allies back significantly, and the squadron was forced to withdraw to airfields further back from the front as German forces advanced steadily: on 2 April it moved from Savy to Bertangles, on 4 April to La Bellevue and then on 4 June to Fouquerolles, remaining there until 21 June when it moved to Liettres to support the French during the Marne offensive. During this time, the squadron was attached to the Royal Air Force's Nos 10, 22, 51 and (finally) 80 wings. The squadron continued operations after its return to Australia, maintaining an intense bombing campaign against Japanese shipping and installations on islands including Timor and Ambon from May to October during which 13 crews were killed. For its service, the squadron was awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation. Throughout 1942–1943, the squadron continued operations with its Hudsons against the Japanese in the East Indies and conducted aerial resupply for elements of Sparrow Force that were fighting on Timor. Late in 1943, the squadron began training on the Bristol Beaufort, completing its conversion in January 1944. The squadron operated the type only briefly, alongside a small number of remaining Hudsons before converting to the North American B 25 Mitchell in May. After being withdrawn from operations briefly, it recommenced combat missions in late June,

Based at Phan Rang Air Base in Ninh Thuan province, the unit became part of the United States Air Force 35th Tactical Fighter Wing (35 TFW) and between April 1967 and June 1971, the Canberras flew approximately 12,000 sorties. The squadron returned to Australia in 1971, having been deployed overseas for a total of 13 years. After Vietnam, No. 2 Squadron was based at Amberley, west of Brisbane, Queensland. It briefly returned to bombing role in training, but in the later years of the Canberra bomber's RAAF operations, it was predominately used for target towing in support of the RAAF's fleet of Dassault Mirage III fighters and survey photography to support the aerial mapping of Australia and other locations including Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya and the Cocos and Christmas Islands. Eventually, the squadron's Canberra bombers were retired from service and in late July 1982 the squadron was disbanded.

The squadron was re formed in January 2000 to operate Boeing 737 Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft procured as part of Project Wedgetail, out of RAAF Base Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal. On 26 November 2009, the RAAF accepted the first two of six Boeing 737s, and by the end of 2010, the squadron had begun training. In 2011, after a period of conversion training for its crews, it took part in Exercise Talisman Sabre with US and Australian forces. On 14 September 2014, the Federal government committed to deploying one of the squadron's Boeing 737s to Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, as part of a coalition to combat Islamic State forces in Iraq. The aircraft began undertaking missions in Iraq on 1 October. In July 2023 the Australian Government announced that a Wedgetail aircraft and up to 100 personnel will be deployed to Germany for six months from October as part of Australia's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The aircraft will join international efforts to protect the flow of supplies to Ukraine. Australia was the lead customer for the Wedgetail aircraft, which has since been purchased by several other countries. As of 2023, between 20 and 25 RAF personnel were serving with No. 2 Squadron ahead of the aircraft entering service in the UK.