- RAAF Station Archerfield
RAAF Station Archerfield was a permanent
Royal Australian Air Force station atArcherfield Airport inBrisbane ,Queensland ,Australia , from1939 to1956 .History
1939 - 1945
At the outbreak of
World War II in September1939 , theRAAF took over the Royal Queensland Aero Club facilities atArcherfield Airport . Club aircraft were impressed into service and flying instructors were commissioned into theRAAF .No. 2 Elementary Flight Training School was transferred to Archerfield look after flight training.No. 23 Squadron RAAF , now officially called "City of Brisbane Squadron", received the Australian builtCAC Wirraway to defend the city against air attack.Up to
1941 , Archerfield was being upgraded as a military base for theRAAF pending completion ofRAAF Base Amberley . In1940 a new administration block with control tower on top was built and theRAAF built hangars and huts along the southern boundary of the field.The attack on the US base in
Pearl Harbor coincided with another on US bases in thePhilippines . The loss of these bases made Australia, especially the north of the country, a valuable staging area for the war against the Japanese. In the following months, military aircraft of several countries competed for space with the civil airliners still operating.On 1 July
1942 , theRAAF transferred control of the airfield to theUnited States Army Air Forces . Visitors to the station includedGeneral Douglas MacArthur and a youngGough Whitlam , then a navigator on aLockheed Ventura .In February
1945 , theRoyal Navy moved itsTransportable Aircraft Maintenance Yard No.1 , known as TAMY 1, to Archerfield. TheRoyal Navy base was known asHMS Nabsford and a plaque commemorating it and the British personnel who served in the Pacific theatre can be viewed in the old administration building along with plaques from theRAAF and the US 5th Air Force.1945 - 1956
No. 23 Squadron RAAF was reformed at Archerfield in1947 flying theCA-17_Mustang_20 .No. 1 Initial Flying Training School was based at Archerfield in1951 until it was merged withNo. 1 Basic Flying School in 1954.No. 23 Squadron RAAF re-equipped with theDe Havilland Vampire in1955 , but the grass fires started by the Vampires’ jet exhausts on the grass runways necessitated relocating the squadron toRAAF Base Amberley . The Station Headquarters was closed soon after.Units based at Archerfield
Royal Australian Air Force
*
No. 23 Squadron RAAF :1939 -1942 (CAC Wirraway ,Avro Anson ,Lockheed Hudson ),1947 -1955 (CA-17_Mustang_20 , Vampire)
*No. 1 Initial Flying Training School ,1951 -1954 (Tiger Moth)
*No. 3 Initial Flying Training School , relocated from RAAF Station Sandgate194 -1954 , before relocating toKingaroy, Queensland
*No. 2 Elementary Flight Training School ,1939 -1942 (Tiger Moth, Gypsy Moth)
*No. 2 Air Ambulance Unit RAAF :1944 -1946 (Fox Moth, Moth Minor,Lockheed Hudson ,DH.84 , C-47 Dakota)
*No. 4 Communications Flight :1942 -1946 (Avro Anson ,Lockheed Hudson ,CAC Wirraway , Tiger Moth, Moth Minor,Lockheed Lodestar ,Bristol Beaufort ,Bristol Beaufighter )
*No. 38 (T) Squadron RAAF:1944 -1946 (C-47 Dakota)
*No. 323 Radar Squadron RAAF :1945
*No. 324 Radar Squadron RAAF :1945
*No. 325 Radar Squadron RAAF :1945
*No. 342 Radar Squadron RAAF :1945
*No. 76 Squadron RAAF :1942 (P-40E Kittyhawk)United States Army Air Force
*
19th Squadron
*21st Troop Carrier Squadron
*33rd Squadron
*39th Troop Carrier Squadron
*90th Squadron
*1535th Ordnance S&M Company Royal Netherlands Air Force
*
NEI-Transport Section, Brisbane :1944 -1945 (Lockheed Lodestar ,B-25 Mitchell )Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
*
Transportable Aircraft Maintenance Yard No.1
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.