No. 101 Flight RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force fleet co-operation flight equipped with amphibian aircraft. The flight was formed on 1 July 1925, and operated from the Royal Australian Navy seaplane tender between 1929 and 1933. After Albatross paid off the flight's aircraft operated from the RAN's heavy cruisers and . No. 101 Flight was expanded to form No. 5 Squadron on 20 April 1936.
History
Great Barrier Reef survey
No. 101 (Fleet Co-Operation) Flight was formed at RAAF Station Point Cook near Melbourne on 1 July 1925. The unit was initially equipped with Fairey III float planes, and began flying in support of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) that year. In October 1925 the flight was transferred to RAAF Station Richmond outside of Sydney. On 31 March 1926 the first two of six Supermarine Seagull III amphibian flying boats which had been purchased to re-equip No. 101 Flight arrived in Australia. All of the aircraft were delivered by June that year, and at this time most of the flight's personnel were members of the RAN. In August that year the flight's base was relocated to the Queensland town of Bowen.
The flight took part in a survey of the Great Barrier Reef between mid-1926 and early 1929. Its role in this survey built upon trial flights conducted in the area by RAAF Fairey IIIs during 1924 and 1925. In August 1926 the flight's base was relocated to the Queensland town of Bowen. The survey of the Barrier Reef was conducted in company with during 1926 and 1927.
Operations from RAN warships
In 1926 the Commonwealth Government ordered a seaplane tender, , and the RAAF was instructed to provide an air wing for the ship once she was completed; the service had not received any warning that the ship was to be ordered, and was surprised by this decision. At this time No. 101 Flight's Seagull IIIs were the only RAAF aircraft which were potentially suitable for being operated from a seaplane tender, though Albatross designers were not informed of this. In the absence of advice from the RAAF, they designed a ship capable of operating nine Fairey IIIs which fortunately had similar dimensions to those of the Seagull III. In January 1928 the Cabinet decided to not form a RAN fleet air arm, and directed that the RAAF would provide the pilots and maintenance personnel for Albatrosss air wing while the RAN would contribute observers and radio operators for the aircraft. When embarked, Albatross air wing would come under the control of her captain.
In February 1929 No. 101 Flight returned to Point Cook and began final preparations to operate from Albatross. Six Seagulls were embarked in Melbourne on 26 February that year. The role of No. 101 Flight while embarked on Albatross was to conduct reconnaissance flights, spot artillery fire and track hostile ships. As the Seagulls could not be launched from Albatross catapult the ship could only conduct flying operations in calm weather, and had to stop to load and unload aircraft. Nevertheless, historian Chris Coulthard-Clark has judged that "despite the fact that embarkation of the Seagull III was an expedient which meant that only air operations of quite limited scope were possible, these planes were able to satisfy reconnaissance, gunnery, torpedo spotting and survey requirements provided sea conditions were favourable".
Albatross undertook a program of trials and operations in 1929. In April 1929 all of No. 101 Flight's personnel were recalled from leave as the seaplane tender made an emergency deployment from Sydney as part of the search for Charles Kingsford Smith's aircraft Southern Cross, which had gone missing during a flight off north-western Australia. The ship sailed on 12 April, but was recalled to Sydney six hours later after it was confirmed that Southern Cross had been located. During June that year, Albatross and No. 101 Flight took part in a large exercise involving much of the RAN and The New Zealand Squadron off Queensland. Following this exercise, the seaplane tender undertook a cruise to New Guinea during July and August with Governor General Lord Stonehaven and Lady Stonehaven embarked. In October Albatross participated in a joint RAAF-RAN exercise in Port Phillip Bay which tested the tender's ability to launch an air raid and the RAAF's ability to repeal such an attack.