History of Bradfield Park
On 19 July 1924, the engineer Dr John Bradfield unveiled a sign-post "Bradfield" at the junction of Fiddens Wharf Road and Queens Road (Bradfield Road), West Lindfield. Ku-ring-gai Shire Council had earlier in 1924, decided to delineate 640 acres of land near the Lane Cove River for the new suburb. One of the councillors present stated:
- "...that it would be fitting to call the new suburb Bradfield so that it numbers among its citizens the designer of the bridge and in this way its pride would be permanently recorded." [1]
Bradfield Park was originally planned as a garden suburb. [2] but from 1940 a station was built on the grounds, to house a number of RAAF and WAAAF units. During World War II, more than 200,000 members of the RAAF and the WAAAF received training on their way to service in World War II. [3]
After World War II the base was utilised as a migrant hostel for new arrivals in Australia and for Australian families in urgent need of accommodation due to the acute housing shortage. [3]
The site was later cleared and reclaimed for housing. A RAAF Memorial was officially opened to commemorate the former base on 29 October 2006. [3]
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second World War. The BCATP remains one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war.
RAAF Base Wagga is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south-east of Wagga Wagga, in the suburb of Forest Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve, as well as by the Chief of the Air Staff, who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service overseas. The WAAAF was the first and largest of the wartime Australian women's services. It was disbanded in December 1947.
No. 13 Signals Unit RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force signals unit during World War II.
RAAF Station Sandgate was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) station located at Brighton, Queensland during World War II.
The Paratroop Training Unit (PTU) was a unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II, which served as the instruction centre for recruitment and training of the Australian Army paratroopers. Trainees mostly came from the 1st Parachute Battalion and Z Special Unit.
RAAF Station Schofields is a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base and aerodrome located at Schofields, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The aerodrome was used during World War II and was in operation between 1942 and 1944.
Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed women's service in Australia during World War II, numbering more than 18,000 members by late 1944 and making up over thirty per cent of RAAF ground staff.
Air Vice-Marshal Joseph Eric Hewitt, was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A Royal Australian Navy officer who transferred permanently to the Air Force in 1928, he commanded No. 101 Flight in the early 1930s, and No. 104 (Bomber) Squadron RAF on exchange in Britain shortly before World War II. Hewitt was appointed the RAAF's Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in 1941. The following year he was posted to Allied Air Forces Headquarters, South West Pacific Area, as Director of Intelligence. In 1943, he took command of No. 9 Operational Group, the RAAF's main mobile strike force, but was controversially sacked by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, less than a year later over alleged morale and disciplinary issues.
Air Vice Marshal Henry Neilson Wrigley, CBE, DFC, AFC was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A pioneering flyer and aviation scholar, he piloted the first trans-Australia flight from Melbourne to Darwin in 1919, and afterwards laid the groundwork for the RAAF's air power doctrine. During World War I, Wrigley joined the Australian Flying Corps and saw combat with No. 3 Squadron on the Western Front, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross; he later commanded the unit and published a history of its wartime exploits. He was awarded the Air Force Cross for his 1919 cross-country flight.
Mary Teston Luis Bell was an Australian aviator and founding leader of the Women's Air Training Corps (WATC), a volunteer organisation that provided support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. She later helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the country's first and largest women's wartime service, which grew to more than 18,000 members by 1944.
No. 5 Service Flying Training School was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight training unit that operated during World War II. It was one of eight Service Flying Training Schools established by the RAAF to provide intermediate and advanced flying instruction to new pilots as part of Australia's contribution to the Empire Air Training Scheme. No. 5 SFTS was formed at RAAF Station Uranquinty, New South Wales, in October 1941, and disbanded in February 1946. Its staff and equipment were employed to re-establish No. 1 Flying Training School, which transferred to RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria, the following year. Care and Maintenance Unit Uranquinty was also formed from No. 5 SFTS's facilities, to look after surplus aircraft at the base prior to their disposal, and disbanded in December 1948.
No. 5 Elementary Flying Training School was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot training unit that operated during World War II. It was one of twelve elementary flying training schools employed by the RAAF to provide introductory flight instruction to new pilots as part of Australia's contribution to the Empire Air Training Scheme. No. 5 EFTS was established in June 1940 at Narromine, New South Wales, and primarily operated Tiger Moths. It ceased training in June 1944, after more than 3,700 students had passed through.
No. 2 Service Flying Training School was a flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) that operated during World War II. It was formed in July 1940, under the command of Wing Commander Frederick Scherger. Responsible for intermediate and advanced instruction of pilots under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), the school was based at RAAF Station Forest Hill near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and operated CAC Wirraway and Avro Anson aircraft. The Ansons were phased out in July 1941, and the school became an all-Wirraway unit. In 1942 the RAAF divided the personnel and equipment of No. 2 SFTS between Nos. 5 and 7 Service Flying Training Schools at Uranquinty and Deniliquin, respectively. No. 2 SFTS was disbanded that April, and the base facilities taken over by No. 5 Aircraft Depot.
No. 1 Basic Flying Training School was a flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Along with No. 1 Initial Flying Training School, it was formed in response to increased demand for aircrew during the Korean War and Malayan Emergency. No. 1 BFTS was established in December 1951 at RAAF Base Uranquinty, New South Wales, where it operated de Havilland Tiger Moths and CAC Wirraways. The school absorbed the activities of No. 1 IFTS in January 1955, as aircrew training requirements had eased following the end of the Korean War. No. 1 BFTS moved to RAAF Base Point Cook, Victoria, in May 1958, by which time it was exclusively flying CAC Winjeels. Its training program expanded in the mid-1960s owing to Australia's commitments in the Vietnam War. No. 1 BFTS was re-formed as No. 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook in January 1969.
No. 1 Initial Flying Training School was a flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It was formed in 1951 as No. 1 Initial Training School, in response to increased demand for aircrew during the Korean War and Malayan Emergency. Headquartered at RAAF Station Archerfield, Queensland, and operating de Havilland Tiger Moths, the unit was renamed No. 1 Initial Flying Training School in 1952. Ground staff from the school won the Hewitt Trophy for small arms proficiency in 1953. Aircrew training requirements eased following the end of the Korean War, and No. IFTS merged with No. 1 Basic Flying Training School at RAAF Base Uranquinty, New South Wales, in 1955.
No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) pilot training unit that operated during World War II. It was one of twelve elementary flying training schools employed by the RAAF to provide introductory flight instruction to new pilots as part of Australia's contribution to the Empire Air Training Scheme. The unit was established in November 1939 as No. 2 Flying Training School at Melbourne, Victoria. It was relocated to Parafield, South Australia, in December 1939 and renamed No. 1 EFTS the following month. Training activities relocated to Tamworth, New South Wales, in May 1944; the school was disbanded in December that year.
Second World War RAAF Buildings is a heritage-listed group of air force base buildings at Saltwater Creek Road, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from c. 1941 to c. 1944. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 23 March 2007.
Bradfield, the western portion of which was also known as Bradfield Park, was a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, Australia between 1924 and 1977, since absorbed by neighbouring Lindfield.
