History
No. 44 Wing was formed on 14 December 1942 in Adelaide River, Northern Territory (100 km south of Darwin). It consisted of 24 radar sites throughout the top end, acting as an early warning system for Japanese air raids. It was disbanded on 22 August 1944.
In November 2001, No. 44 Wing was reformed as a dedicated Air Traffic Control wing, with headquarters at RAAF Base Williamtown. As well has providing air traffic control in Australian airspace, detachments from the wing have been deployed outside Australia on a number of occasions. As at 2008, No. 44 Wing detachments have been deployed to Sudan, East Timor, Iraq/Middle East, Solomon Islands and Indonesia.
In August 2008 it was reported that No. 44 Wing has 237 air traffic controllers and was below its target strength and having difficulty retaining controllers. As a result, the RAAF was unable to monitor the movements of all its planes.
In April 2010 RAAF Air Traffic Controllers Officers (commonly known as ATCO's) were renamed Joint Battlefield Airspace Controllers (JBAC) to more accurately reflect their role; encompassing both domestic ATC as well as their tactical role providing airspace coordination and control in military operations. Along with the name change all JBACs were issued with their qualification badge.
On 16 February 2011 No. 452 Squadron and No. 453 Squadron were re-raised as subordinate units of No. 44 Wing. The two squadrons will command the existing RAAF air traffic control detachments at Australian Defence Force-run airports, freeing No. 44 Wing Headquarters to focus on higher-level tasks. In December 2012 the wing had a strength of 500 personnel, including 280 JBACs. Many of the wing's other personnel are technicians who are responsible for setting up and maintaining the unit's specialised equipment.
Read more about this topic: No. 44 Wing RAAF
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