Australian Mint launch coin collection to commemorate Royal Airforce centenary

The new coin collection was released by The Royal Australian Mint on Thursday, to help commemorate the Air Force's centenary celebrations.

The centenary marks 100 years since the Royal Australian Air Force was formed, in 1921.

Robyn Williams, one of the first women to undertake training in the Royal Air Force, features on the 11^th coin as part of the heroes of the sky series.

"I'm really really excited and honoured to be part of this promotion of the Air Force's 100 years centenary," Ms Williams said.

"I'd always wanted to be a pilot. When I first joined the Air Force they didn't take women as pilots so I joined as an engineer, and as soon as they opened it up to women I was first in line to be part of that.

"There were two [women] that were on the first pilots course and it was a bit of a revolution for the Air Force."

Ms Williams flew a C-130 Hercules, one of Australia's most significant aircrafts, which also features on a coin.

"This is one of the premier aircraft in the Australian Air Force. This aircraft, one version or another, has been in this air force for 63 years, so probably the longest any aircraft has been in the air force," she said.

There are 11 coins in the new collection, including 10 that feature their most iconic aircraft and one that represents people who have served, said the Mint's new chief executive Leigh Gordon.

"As well as aircraft coins there is a coin that represents the people of the Royal Australian Air Force and shows the evolution of aircrew clothing over that 100-year history of the Air Force," Mr Gordon said.

"The coins are based on a 50 cent piece, and a number of them have colour on them which is quite striking."

The Air Force and Mint have worked in collaboration for more than a year to create the new coin collection.

Deputy Chief of Air Force, Vice-Air Marshal Stephen Meredith, said they were the ideal way to mark the centenary.

"The opportunity to have personnel and the aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force featured on the 2021 Royal Australian Mint coin series is an outstanding way to honour the service and sacrifice of the 350,000 men and women who have served, and the 11,100 who lost their lives in their service to Australia, over the last 100 years," Mr Meredith said.

Mr Gordon said that while the Mint often launch new series of coin collections, this was a particularly special one.

"We have a team of designers who work in the Mint. They certainly have worked on this process back and forth with Air Force quite a bit, from months to years, to get the coins to where you see them at, working fairly closely to the Air Force to make sure they met their requirements," Mr Gordon said.

"We're looking to build 15,000 of the sets and you can buy them through coin dealers, online from the mint, or you can come in and buy them in person from the Mint at our shop."

Each set it priced at $175.