RAAF Base Townsville
| RAAF Base Townsville | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | YBTL | ||
| IATA code | TVL | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 6 m (20 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 4 miles west of Townsville | ||
| Basic data | |||
| operator | Royal Australian Air Force | ||
| Runways | |||
| 01/19 | 2438 m × 45 m asphalt | ||
| 07/25 | 1100 m × 30 m asphalt | ||
RAAF Base Townsville ( ICAO : YBTL , IATA : TVL ) is a military airfield of the Royal Australian Air Force before the city limits of Townsville in Queensland . It serves as an advanced base of operations for the Australian Air Force.
history
The RAAF Base Townsville was originally opened as a civilian airfield in the 1930s and was expanded militarily in the run-up to World War II . 14 months before Japan entered the war , the first fighter squadron, the No. 14 Squadron , stationed on the field. Many buildings of the time are still in use today.
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.
After the war, Consolidated Catalinas of No. 11 Squadron and Avro Lincoln 694 in Townsville. The space was again used for civilian purposes and occasionally hit by tropical cyclones. The planes were usually flown out beforehand. From 1962 the RAAF patrol aircraft of the type Lockheed SP-2H Neptune stationed on the field, which were used until 1977.
From the 1960s, there was a wave of relocations of units stationed in the southern metropolitan areas in Australia to the north of the country. In support of the army, on July 1, 1976 No. 35 Squadron from RAAF Base Richmond coming to Townsville in DHC-4 Caribou transport aircraft and Bell Iroquois helicopters. The latter were later handed over to the Australian Army , as were the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters of No. 9 Squadron . After 1997, the Caribous took part in humanitarian missions in Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea , and missions were also flown in East Timor and the Solomon Islands . In 2000, when the fleet was reduced from 21 to 14 machines, all machines of No. 38 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberley , a detachment remained in Townsville until the Caribous was decommissioned at the end of 2009.
Todays use
The Detachment of No. 38 Squadron . In November 2009, the squadron temporarily took over three Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350s from the Australian Army and five new King Airs arrived in the first half of 2010, probably local licensed builds from Hawker Pacific of the B300 series (the final Caribou replacement, the Alenia C- 27J , to be stationed in RAAF Richmond from 2015. ) In addition to a few other regular non-flying units, such as a survival training school, Townsville is home to the 23rd (City of Townsville) Squadron , a reserve unit.
In addition, the Army's 5th Aviation Regiment with Sikorsky Black Hawk , MRH90 and Eurocopter Tiger helicopters is based on the base.
