RAAF Base Amberley
| RAAF Base Amberley | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | YAMB |
| IATA code | hne |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 30 m (98 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 50 km southwest of Brisbane |
| Basic data | |
| operator | Royal Australian Air Force |
| Start-and runway | |
| 04/22 | 1523 m × 40 m asphalt |
RAAF Base Amberley ( ICAO : YAMB ) is a military airfield of the Royal Australian Air Force 8 km southwest of Ipswich and 50 km southwest of Brisbane in the state of Queensland .
history
During the Second World War , the place became a base for the USAAF's 5th Air Force . With the Allied advance against Japan in the Southwest Pacific , these units moved further north to bases closer to the front.
Between 1973 and 2010 Amberley was the home base of the Australian General Dynamics F-111C / RF-111C / F-111G , which last flew with the 6th Squadron . Australia was the only export customer of this heavy fighter-bomber, which the USAF had retired over ten years earlier.
The first five units of the successor to the F-111, the Boeing F / A-18F Super Hornet , of which 24 units were ordered in 2007, arrived in Queensland in late March 2010. The preliminary operational readiness of the first unit, 1st Squadron , was reached at the beginning of December 2010, at that time fifteen units were already on site. The remaining machines followed by October 2011, for this purpose the 6th Squadron was re-established in January 2011. In addition, 12 copies of the EA-18G were ordered in 2013 and were delivered in the first half of 2017. They are operated by the 6th Squadron, which therefore gave their F / A-18F to the 1st Squadron at the end of 2016. In 2020 the retraining to the No. 82 Wing Training Flight (82TF) outsourced.
Amberley was modernized in the first few years of the new millennium, because in addition to the Super Hornets, the RAAF also operates two new large types of transport aircraft here. The strategic transport aircraft of the type Boeing C-17A Globemaster III used by the 36th Squadron have been stationed here since 2006. At the beginning of 2011, their initially four aircraft were so heavily used with humanitarian missions ( Brisbane , Christchurch and Japan ) that more copies were ordered. From the end of May 2011, the 33rd Squadron also received five new Airbus KC-30A tankers , and aircraft were also re-ordered here.
Amberley's largest squadron in terms of manpower is the 23rd (City of Brisbane) Squadron , a reserve unit. There are also various other non-flying formations. A total of 3500 soldiers are currently stationed, making Amberley the RAAF's largest operational base.
After 2020, the Super Hornets, which were only procured as an interim solution, as well as the approx. 70 older Hornets stationed on other RAAF bases, are to be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description of the basis. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
