 During World War II , the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) established several operational training units ( OTUs ) to convert recently graduated pilots from advanced trainers to combat aircraft , and to add fighting ability to the flying skills they had already learned . No. 5 Operational Training Unit was formed at Forest Hill in Wagga Wagga , New South Wales , on 26 October 1942 . Initially equipped with five Bristol Beaufighters and two Bristol Beauforts , its inaugural commanding officer was Squadron Leader B.F. Rose . The first training course ran from 2 November to 12 December 1942 . At the end of the month the unit 's strength was 170 personnel and sixteen aircraft . By mid @-@ 1943 this had increased to almost 400 personnel and twenty @-@ five aircraft , including four de Havilland DH @-@ 84s and one de Havilland Moth Minor , the remainder being Beauforts and Beaufighters . The unit 's aircraft complement was augmented by its first Airspeed Oxford in August 1943 . 
