The Unit History of #5 Airfield Construction Squadron 'Flying Shovels' (?)
 
No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron (5ACS) was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) construction squadron in WW2, and became the longest lived of these units serving in the BCOF in Japan, and later in Thailand and Vietnam until it was eventually disbanded in 1974.
 
Airfield Construction Squadrons were the RAAF equivalent of Army Engineers, with a primary task of constructing and maintaining forward airfields,  runways and support infrastructure in the Pacific Campaign. They were raised in 1942 following the entry of Japan into the war.  It was immediately evident that there was a paucity of airstrips across the South West Pacific Area to support air operations.  Numbers of these units also provided support to USAAF and US Marine Corps units. 
 
They were on the move building new facilities as the Allies advanced against the Japanese. Initially these units were designated Mobile Works Squadrons.  The designation was progressively changed and Airfield Construction Squadrons were formed from the Mobile Works Squadrons of the same numeric designation. 
 
No. 5  ACS was formed as No. 5 Mobile Works Squadron in December 1942 and operated in the New Guinea and Islands Campaigns and the Borneo Campaign during World War II.
 
Throughout 1943 it operated on Goodenough Island where it built Vivigani Airfield and it also supported No. 6 ACS at Milne Bay. In November 1943 it returned to Australia for refit and recuperation.
 
In early 1944 it returned to New Guinea at Aitape working as part of a joint Australian / US aviation engineer construction organisation before relocating to Noemfoor Island in mid 1944.
 
Early in 1945 it was on to Biak, then Morotai which was the assembly area for the forthcoming Borneo operation.  5ACS was deployed to Labuan in North Borneo where it saw out the war. 
 
Soft Cover 
54 Pages
In Good Condition