RAAF Base Learmonth | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Near Exmouth , Western Australia in Australia | |||||||
Location in Western Australia | |||||||
Coordinates | 22°14′09″S114°05′19″E / 22.23583°S 114.08861°E | ||||||
Type | Military air base | ||||||
Site information | |||||||
Owner | Department of Defence | ||||||
Operator | Royal Australian Air Force | ||||||
Website | RAAF Base Learmonth | ||||||
Site history | |||||||
In use | circa 1950s –present | ||||||
Garrison information | |||||||
Occupants | 'Bare base' | ||||||
Airfield information | |||||||
Identifiers | IATA: LEA, ICAO: YPLM | ||||||
Elevation | 6 metres (19 ft) AMSL | ||||||
| |||||||
Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart [1] | |||||||
Official name | Learmonth Air Weapons Range Facility | ||||||
Type | Listed place (Historic) | ||||||
Designated | 22 June 2004 | ||||||
Reference no. | 105551 |
RAAF Base Learmonth, also known as Learmonth Airport ( IATA : LEA, ICAO : YPLM), is a joint use Royal Australian Air Force base and civil airport. It is located near the town of Exmouth on the north-west coast of Western Australia. RAAF Base Learmonth is one of the RAAF's three bare bases. It is maintained by the RAAF's 25 Squadron and a small caretaker staff during peacetime.
The RAAF also operates the Learmonth Air Weapons Range which covers about 18,954 ha (46,840 acres) and is located 30 km (19 mi) south-west of the airbase. [2]
During World War II a little-known landing field was constructed on the western shore of Exmouth Gulf. It was code-named "Potshot" and maintained by No. 76 Operational Base Unit, in support of Operation Potshot. In the 1950s the landing field was further developed as a military base and named RAAF Learmonth in honour of Wing Commander Charles Learmonth DFC and Bar, who, while leading No. 14 Squadron, was killed in a flying accident off Rottnest Island, Western Australia on 6 January 1944. [3]
Starting in June 1944, Qantas used Learmonth as an intermediate stop for two converted Consolidated Liberator bombers that flew a segment of the vital England–Australia air route, supplementing modified Consolidated PBY Catalinas flying The Double Sunrise route to Ceylon. The Liberators flew a shorter 4,952-kilometre (3,077 mi) over-water route from Learmonth to an airfield northeast of Colombo, and could make the journey in 17 hours with 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) of payload, whereas the Catalinas usually required at least 27 hours and had to carry so much auxiliary fuel that their payload was limited to only 450 kilograms (1,000 lb). The route was named Kangaroo Service and marked the first time that Qantas's now-famous kangaroo logo was used; passengers received a certificate proclaiming them as members of The Order of the Longest Hop. [4] Qantas would again use the base, much later, during the emergency landing of Qantas Flight 72.
In the mid-1960s, the Federal Government gave its support to plans by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Val Hancock, to redevelop Learmonth as a bare base, due to its proximity to Indonesia. Though F-111Cs could have made a round-trip to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, from RAAF Base Darwin, the route they took would have been very much limited by range. Learmonth's relative proximity added flexibility to the routes in and out, enhancing the likelihood of a successful strike. [5] The major work was undertaken by No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron between 1971 and 1973. [6]
In October 2022, Qantas announced they would be servicing Melbourne-Exmouth flights for the first time from April to October 2023. [7] [8]
Exmouth is a town on the tip of the North West Cape and on Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia, 1,124 kilometres (698 mi) north of the state capital Perth and 2,060 kilometres (1,280 mi) southwest of Darwin.
Townsville Airport is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Townsville, Queensland. The airport is also known as Townsville International Airport, and Garbutt Airport, a reference to its location in the Townsville suburb of Garbutt. Townsville Airport is serviced by major Australian domestic and regional airlines, and in 2011/12 handled 1.7 million passengers making it the 11th busiest airport in Australia.
Koggala Airport in Sri Lanka was originally a Royal Air Force (RAF) Station RAF Koggala. It is now the SLAF Koggala, used for domestic flights and for military purposes.
Air traffic control in Australia is provided by two independent organisations, one civilian and one military. The civilian provider is Airservices Australia, which controls civilian airfields and airspace. The military provider is the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which controls military airfields and adjoining airspace. This includes Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy aviation bases.
RAAF Williams is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base set across two locations, at Point Cook and Laverton, located approximately 20 km (12 mi) south-west of the Melbourne central business district in Victoria, Australia. Both establishments previously existed as separate RAAF Bases until 1989 when they were amalgamated to form RAAF Williams. The name was chosen in honour of Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams, the 'father' of the RAAF.
No. 14 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol squadron of World War II. It was formed in 1939 and was based in Western Australia throughout the war. While it conducted many patrols over the waters off Western Australia, it did not see combat. The squadron was disbanded in December 1945.
No. 25 Squadron is a general reserve squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is based at RAAF Base Pearce in Perth, Western Australia, and forms part of the Combat Support Group. The squadron was formed in early 1937 and until early 1939 was designated as No. 23 Squadron. During World War II, it provided local air defence for the Perth region, before undertaking Army co-operation duties in 1943–1944 and then converting to a heavy bomber role in 1945. Flying B-24 Liberators, the squadron took part in operations against Japanese targets in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) and supported Allied ground operations during the Borneo Campaign.
Mungalalu Truscott Airbase or Truscott-Mungalalu Airport, which during World War II was known as Truscott Airfield is today a commercial airport in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Cloncurry Airport is an airport in Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia.
The Daly Waters Airfield, also RAAF Base Daly Waters, is a former commercial and sporadically-used military airfield located at Daly Waters, Northern Territory, Australia. As an airfield on Australia's earliest international routes, Daly Waters was used throughout the 1920s and 1930s as a stop over for commercial airlines operating on the domestic route to Western Australia and international carriers flying from Australia into south-east Asia via Darwin. During World War II, the airbase was used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the United States Army Air Force to undertake combat operations against the Japanese in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and the islands to Australia's north. Following the war, the airbase was used commercially again up until the 1970s when the airfield was sporadically-used by the RAAF.
The Double Sunrise service was formed in July 1943 to re-establish the Australia–England air link that had been cut due to the fall of Singapore in February 1942. The service initially operated from its base in Nedlands, Western Australia near Perth, to the Royal Air Force base at Lake Koggala near Galle in Ceylon. It was later extended to Karachi in British India, which was the terminus for the BOAC service from England. The name of the service was derived from the crew and passengers observing two sunrises on the westbound flight from Australia.
Cootamundra Airport is a small airport in Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia. The airport is also the venue for the annual GTR Challenge and Drag Battle motorsport event.
Learmonth Airport is a civil airport, co-located on the site of RAAF Base Learmonth, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base. The airport is located near the town of Exmouth on the north-west coast of Western Australia, in Australia.
During March 1944, the Allies of World War II rapidly reinforced the military units located in the state of Western Australia to defend against the possibility that Japanese warships would attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth. This redeployment began on 8 March after concerns were raised about the purpose of Japanese warship movements near the Dutch East Indies, and ended on 20 March, after it was concluded that an attack was unlikely.
No. 76 Wing was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) wing that operated during World War II. Initially based in Far North Queensland, its headquarters transferred to Darwin, Northern Territory, in September 1944 to take control of three PBY Catalina units: Nos. 20, 42, and 43 Squadrons. The prime task of these squadrons was minelaying in the South West Pacific theatre, and they conducted these operations as far afield as Java, Borneo, the Philippines, and China. As well as minelaying, No. 76 Wing's Catalinas flew bombing, patrol, and transport missions, and dropped millions of propaganda leaflets in the closing months of the war. The wing headquarters disbanded in November 1945.
Charles Cuthbertson Learmonth DFC & Bar was an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. He commanded No. 22 Squadron in combat during the New Guinea campaign, and subsequently took over No. 14 Squadron which was stationed near Perth, Western Australia. He was killed in a flying accident on 6 January 1944, and one of the RAAF's bases was later named in his honour.
Western Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in January 1941, and controlled RAAF units located in Western Australia. Headquartered in Perth, Western Area Command was responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. Its aircraft conducted anti-submarine operations throughout the war, and attacked targets in the Dutch East Indies during the Borneo campaign in 1945.
Developed as a naval patrol aircraft, the Consolidated PBY Catalina was a widely exported flying boat during World War II. Over the course of the conflict it served with a number of different nations in a variety of roles. In the Royal Australian Air Force, PBYs and PB2Bs served as multi role bombers and scouts, the type eventually earning great renown among Australian aircrews. The motto of the Catalina squadrons was "The First and Furthest."
Exmouth Submarine Base, called Operation Potshot, was a United States Navy base at Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia during World War II. Exmouth Gulf on western Australia was selected as the site for US Naval base as it was thought at the time to be out of the reach of Empire of Japan's long-range bombers. Bombing of Darwin on February 19, 1942, demonstrated a more southern port was needed. The Submarine operation at Exmouth Gulf and the North West Cape was called Operation Potshot, named after the Potshot airfield that provided fighter plane cover for the base.