Six of No . 36 Squadron 's Hercules evacuated over 450 civilians from Cambodia following the coup in July 1997 . The unit again became responsible for its own routine maintenance in 1998 , when No . 486 Squadron was disbanded . A detachment from No . 36 Squadron supported INTERFET operations in East Timor between September 1999 and February 2000 . The squadron was assigned four C-130Es previously operated by No . 37 Squadron during the latter 's transition to the new C-130J Super Hercules , which commenced in 1999 ; the E models were retired the following year . No . 36 Squadron was once more awarded the Gloucester Cup in 2001 . It took part in relief efforts following the Bali Bombings in October 2002 . In February 2003 , it deployed a detachment of two Hercules to the Middle East as part of the Australian contribution to the invasion of Iraq . The aircraft arrived on 10 February , and began flying transport sorties less than two weeks later . A No . 36 Squadron Hercules became the first Coalition aircraft to land at Al Asad Airbase , west of Baghdad , after it was secured by Australian special forces personnel . One aircraft was hit by ground fire near Baghdad on 27 June 2004 , killing a coalition passenger . The detachment remained in Iraq until September 2004 , when it was relieved by two C-130Js from No . 37 Squadron . No . 36 Squadron also participated in Operation Sumatra Assist in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
2004 Boxing Day tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
No. 36 Squadron RAAF