Living History AUSTRALIAN MUSTANG AND SABRE
Warbird virtuoso, Jeff Trappett, staged a special airborne sortie, featuring his Mustang and Sabre, to mark the Royal Australian Air Force’s centenary. Matt Savage goes air-toair with these magnificent machines, and profiles both the aircraft and their respected owner
While most nations of the world have an independent air force, few can claim that theirs has been in existence for a century. The fledgling Australian Air Force was officially formed on March 31, 1921, and gained its Royal prefix just months later by consent of King George V, on August 13. A century on, it is one of the oldest continuouslyoperated independent air arms in the world – only Finland's Ilmavoimat and Britain's Royal Air Force, raised weeks apart in 1918, and the South African Air Force, created in 1920, are older.
While there were official celebrations and flypasts over Canberra, the nation's capital, on the day of the centenary, wellknown Australian warbird owner, and former RAAF pilot, Sqn Ldr Jeff Trappett AFC, wanted to celebrate the auspicious occasion in his own way.