Vought OS2U Kingfisher, part four

The Royal Australian Air Force got a batch of 18 Kingfisher that were originally intended for the Dutch East Indies, but were diverted to Australia following the capture of that region by the Japanese in March 1942.
The Kingfishers were initially used as trainer aircraft, serving with the Seaplane Training Flight, based at RAAF Rathmines, in New South Wales and No.3 Operational Training Unit, based at Rathmines too.
The Kingfishers served in that role until May 1943, when the No.107 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force was formed with Kingfishers. The squadron was formed at Rathmines and initially it was equipped with 15 Kingfishers which had been ordered by the Dutch East Indies.
Just after being formed, the squadron began conducting anti-submarine and convoy-escort patrols. The squadron was briefly reinforced by Consolidated Catalinas from No.11 and No.20 Squadrons during June-October 1943 and that same year, one Kingfisher was lost due to the damage sustained by a cockpit fire on 22nd September but, thankfully, all of its crew survived after they made an emergency landing off the coast of Pittwater, in New South Wales.
In mid-1944 the squadron was rebased from the crowded Rathmines to St. George Basin, at the South of Sydney. The squadron began patrolling the Southern area on 1st July 1944, but this process was delayed by bad weather and facilites at St. George weren't as good as Rathmines' ones and hot water and ablution weren't initially available, so it wasn't until one week later, on 7th July, when the squadron resumed their patrols.
After German submarine U-862 sank the American Liberty Ship Robert J. Walker, off the coast at Moruya, New South Wales, on 25th December 1944, squadron's patrols were intensified. The squadron flew five sorties per day for the next week, looking for the submarine, and on the 29th, one of the Kingfisher, attacked what he thought was a periscope, near the point where the Robert J. Walker was sunk. However, by that time, the submarine escaped and was already at the Tasmanian Sea, near New Zealand. This was the only deliberate attack made by a RAAF's Kingfisher during the entire war.
In early 1945 No.107's squadron duties were expanded to provide search & rescue support elements for the British Pacific Fleet as they passed along the Australian East coast. The number of anti-submarine patrols was also greatly reduced during early 1945 as the threat of a submarine attack also decreased. After the end of the war, the squadron ferried its Kingfishers to RAAF's Flying Boat Repair Depot, at lake Boga, Victoria, during August 1945, with the last Kingfisher taking off from St. Georges on the 29th and the squadron being disbanded on 28th October 1945.
After the war, one unarmed Kingfisher was used to support the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947 operating from HMS Wyatt Earp, serving with the expedition until 1948 and returned into storage and sold in January 1953.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_OS2U_Kingfisher
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._107_Squadron_RAAF
3. https://www.airforce.gov.au/sites/default/files/minisite/static/7522/RAAFmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A48.htm
4. https://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/vought-os2u-kingfisher