Sale’s elite squadron – The Roulettes

On any given day, the sound of aircraft can be heard buzzing in the skies above Sale, a city situated in Victoria’s Gippsland region.

Chances are, more often than not, these aeroplanes belong to the Roulettes – an elite squadron that showcases Sale’s aerial grandeur to Australia, and the world.

Formally known as the Royal Australian Air Force Aerobatic Team, the squadron is stationed at Central Flying School, RAAF Base East Sale, and consists of seven members who attend events across the country.

One of these members is Flight Lieutenant Ben Price, or Roulette Seven, who is largely responsible for organising these appearances.

FLTLT Price first joined the RAAF in 2015 after spending seven years as an electrician; he recalls working in a roof with another electrician, who was twice his age, as the motivation for him to join the Air Force.

“We were up there, doing some work in the roof, and I was 25 at the time, and I thought, ‘That’s not really what I want to be doing when I’m 50 years old…’” FLTLT Price said.

“I kind of went home that night and put in an application (to) Defence Force Recruiting, and I thought, ‘I’ll just see what happens’.”

Despite having no experience as a pilot, he was accepted into the RAAF and began his new career.

He has been involved with the Roulettes since last year, initially viewing the role as an opportunity to return home, grown up in the Mornington region of Victoria.

“Living in Brisbane, COVID hit and I wanted to get back to Victoria, and they basically said, ‘We’ve got some jobs available in East Sale, and one of those is the Roulettes – going into the Roulette Seven position,’” he said.

In this position, FLTLT Price generally isn’t involved in the aerial displays – only six pilots perform together at any one time – but will fly the back-up aircraft, and accompany his fellow Roulettes to each event.

Heading the Aerobatic Team is Squadron Leader Mark Keritz, who has been involved in the Air Force since joining the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2006.

He became part of the troupe in 2019, and assumed the designation of Roulette One last year.

SQNLDR Keritz explained to the Gippsland Times how much preparation is involved before attending an event.

“We have what’s called a ‘work-up’ every six months – given people in the Defence Force post in and post out, we might have one or two members changing at any one time,” he said.

“So we have about 30 to sometimes 50 flight work-ups to train people up … and it usually takes about six, sometimes eight weeks to train people up for a show.”

That involves up to 50 hours of flying time over Sale and surrounds, all for a display which typically lasts 10 to 15 minutes.

PROUD HISTORY

The Roulettes were formed in 1970 following the success of two other aerial display teams: the Red Sales and the Telstars.

The original aircraft flown by the Squadron was the Aermacchi MB-326, an Italian light military aircraft affectionately referred to as the “Macchi”.

They were replaced by the Swiss-built Pilatus PC-9/A in 1989, which would be utilised by the Roulettes for another three decades.

Their replacement was another Pilatus aircraft, the PC-21, which superseded the 9/A fleet in 2019 and is still being utilised by the squadron today.

The PC-21 is a highly versatile aircraft, capable of pulling 8Gs of force and turning 200 degrees per second – a far cry from most other planes in the ADF’s fleet.

“Most of my hours are on the C130 Hercules – it’s a medium tactical airlifter, so cannot do anything near what (the PC-21) does,” SQNLDR Keritz said.

He likened the PC-21 to a sports car, and the Hercules to a truck.

FLTLT Price agreed with the comparison, saying of his former aircraft: “Mark was in the truck, I was in the bus.”

“I flew an air-to-air refueller … it was a commercial airliner that had systems up the back to refuel other aircraft,” he said.

“Coming to (the PC-21) now is a sports car in terms of what you can do in it.”

While only six PC-21s are flown by the Roulettes during their display formations, East Sale has a fleet of 25 Pilatus aircraft on-site, all of which are painted in the same red-and-blue livery.

When not being used for events, the planes are utilised by the Central Flying School to train junior Air Force pilots and teachers.

As part of their role, the Roulettes assist with training prospective instructors who have previously flown in Hercules, C-17 or F-35 aircraft.

“They come to us, we teach them to be instructors, and they go to either 1 Flying Training School in Sale or 2 Flying Training School in Perth, train the basic pilots… then we sort of keep that cycle going,” SQNLDR Keritz said.
Training takes place across the wider region during all hours of the day.
“We train instructors to teach at night here, so there’s a fair bit of night-flying … just to provide students and the instructors with the skills they need to go and fly other operation types,” SQNLDR Keritz said.
Though he added: “We try and minimise it where we can.”

FLYING EVERYWHERE

The Roulettes will often attend multiple events throughout a 12-month period; this year alone, they have performed aerial displays over Melbourne on Australia Day and Anzac Day, in Tasmania for the Hobart Regatta, and in South Australia for the Barossa Airshow.

The squadron was also seen at the Avalon Airshow, where it participated in a formation flight with its South Korean counterpart, the Black Eagles; and the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, performing routines on all four days of the event and being telecast to a global audience.
“It’s impressive,” FLTLT Price said regarding the international recognition.

“Whilst we are only a small Air Force comparatively, our display team is up there with the best in the world.”

At each event, the pilots aim to have what they refer to as “ground interactions” with attendees.

“The flying displays are great, but where we can, we get down and do meet-and-greets,” SQNLDR Keritz said.

“It’s quite exciting – especially when you see all the kids’ faces after the display, and you get to ask what their favourite part of the show is.”

Their answer, according to SQNLDR Keritz, is typically the same: the “Bomb Burst” that concludes the display.

These interactions serve not only to publicise the Australia’s Defence Forces, but the town where the crew hails from.

“Whilst we aim to promote the ADF we are representative of where we come from, being Sale,” FLTLT Price said.

“A lot of people know (of) Sale because of the Roulettes.”

CAMARADERIE

Being an elite flying squadron, comparisons with a certain Hollywood blockbuster are inevitable.

So, just how similar is being in the Roulettes to Top Gun?

According to Sqn Ldr Keritz: “There’s a lot less volleyball involved.”

“It’s not as competitive as Top Gun,” he added, describing the relationship with his fellow pilots as “very close”.

“There’s a lot of trust with the job itself, and from all the time we spend together, you become quite good friends, because you also go away a lot together.”

FLTLT Price shared similar sentiments: “We all get on really well, we have a good laugh, but it’s also a very professional team as well.”

But it will all soon be over for Sqn Ldr Keritz, who will be leaving the Roulettes to “fly a desk” and join the Air Force’s personnel management branch in Canberra.

The departing pilot said he will “very much” miss the role.

“Every time I get asked this question, I talk about how it’s kind of sad,” SQNLDR Keritz said.

“I think this is the peak of my flying career; I’ll never sort of get this much enjoyment, this much fun again.

“But it’s definitely … a good time for me to step out of the role, give someone else a chance, and I’ll go on to meet some new and different challenges.”

SQNLDR Keritz has just concluded his work with the incoming pilots, who are currently two-thirds of the way through their work-up.

FLTLT Price, meanwhile, will remain in his role as Roulette Seven, and continue supporting the squadron in the lead-up to the rest of the year’s events, including the Pacific Airshow in August, and the Battle of Britain Commemoration in September.

Tom Parry