This year, one of the oldest independent Air Forces in the world, the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF), celebrates its 80th anniversary. On March 31st, 1921 the proclamation No. 28 concerning the foundation of an independent air combat force was formally signed by the Australian governor general. But the actual hour of birth of military aviation had been seven years before in Point Crook, south of Melbourne. A pilot of the newly founded Australian Flying Corps, which was a part of the Australian Army and therefore the equivalent to the British Royal Flying Corps, started for a test flight with the first Australian military aircraft, a Bristol Boxkite. Just a few months later (1915), the AFC was actively involved in WW I on the side of the allies. Until the end of the hostilities in November, 1918, no fewer than 2694 Australians served in the flying units of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Air Service.