Using RAAF 77 Squadron operations as a basis, this detailed history of the RAAF involvement in the Korean War examines the roles RAAF fighter aircraft - Mustang and Meteor, Pilots, Ground Crew and also the transport unit, nurses, prisoners of war and those who still have no known resting place. The Korean War saw the RAAF enter the jet era with the introduction of the Meteor as a frontline operational aircraft.
Within days of the North Koreans crossing the 38th Parallel, the RAAF was flying missions from its base in Japan. In the ensuing three years, the RAAF gained respect among its peers and the attention of the opposing military powers. When the war reached a crisis point, with UN forces pinned down and threatened with being pushed off the peninsula into the sea, the RAAF was at the epicentre.
During the war, the RAAF entered the jet age, and the transition was not without challenges and losses. Ultimately, a generation of RAAF leaders emerged from the ranks of sergeant pilots and junior officers who underwent their baptism of fire on the Korean Peninsula.