CHINA LAKE, Calif., –Since 2004, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has had 17 to 30 personnel and two aircraft assigned to China Lake supporting the F/A-18 program, which included the Classic Hornet A+/B+/F. After seven years, they’re wrapping up business and, by end of July, all RAAF members will return to Australia. On June 28, the last Australian F/A-18 departed, piloted by Squadron Leader Steve Rossiter from 3 Squadron.

Paul Butler, project team lead for the Royal Australian Air Force at China Lake is heading up the project closure. As part of the wrap up, they have arranged to donate 17 computers to local Ridgecrest schools within the Sierra Sands Unified School District.

“In preparing for our departure, we had to make arrangements to close down our office. Our IT expert suggested that the local schools might be able to use our computers. We made the offer and Sierra Sands Unified School District accepted. We were happy to be able to give something back.”

Butler, who arrived in January 2008, stated, “My best experience at China Lake was working with the people at China Lake, many of whom I’ve known for 12 – 13 years. The information transfer and the knowledge we’ve gained working with our China Lake counterparts has been fantastic. When my family and I came here, we got involved in the community, joined sports clubs, placed children in schools. And we got to see a lot of America like Yosemite, Yellowstone and Monument Valley. There’s going to be a tear in the eye when we leave Ridgecrest. We have a lot of friends here. My daughter just graduated from Burroughs High school.”

Butler admitted, “It’s rather a sad moment when we’ve had aircraft assigned here for seven years, but we’ll be returning to Williamtown, our main F/A-18 base in Australia.”