7 Feb 1979
A C-130E Hercules of No 37 Squadron arrived in Tehran, Iran, to remove the remaining staff members of Australia’s Embassy amid the turmoil of the Iranian Revolution. A previous RAAF flight on 6 January had removed the first group of Australian nationals and embassy staff wishing to leave. Since then, the Shah had fled into exile and the religious leader Ayatollah Khomenei had returned on 1 February to begin setting up an anti-Western Islamic republic. Amid increasingly uncertain and dangerous conditions in Tehran, the second Hercules transport was also diverted from the regular courier service to resupply RAAF personnel with the United Nations Emergency Force in Sinai, and removed the last staff members to Bahrain. Australia thus avoided sharing America’s fate, after its Embassy in Tehran was stormed in November by militant university students who held mission members as hostages in an ordeal lasting for 444 days.
To read more, download the knowledge article Final RAAF evacuation of Australians from Iran
by Squadron Leader Dave Burns.