Bohle River Aerodrome was an aerodrome located west of

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The aerodrome was constructed in 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, for the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) as part of a group of airfields to be used as aircraft dispersal fields in the event of

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

attack on the Townsville area. The aerodrome consisted of a bitumen sealed NE-SW runway. A remote receiving station was constructed nearby. It was utilised as a 1/4-mile drag strip until its closing on 25 August 2012, to make way for a new housing estate.

Units based at Bohle River Aerodrome

40th Fighter Squadron The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola nami ...

35th Fighter Group Military units * 35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force * 35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I * 35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 Jul ...

– 20 April 1942 *

No. 8 Squadron RAAF No. 8 Squadron was an Australian flying training squadron of World War I and medium bomber squadron of World War II. The squadron was formed in England in October 1917 as part of the Australian Flying Corps, and disbanded in April 1919. It was r ...

– 6 June 1943 – 15 September 1943 *

No. 30 Squadron RAAF No. 30 (City of Sale) Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Raised in 1942 as a long-range fighter unit, the squadron saw action in the Second World War, serving in the South West Pacific Area against the Japanese and ...

– 17 August 1942 – 14 September 1942 *

No. 76 Squadron RAAF No. 76 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight training squadron. Established in 1942, it operated P-40 Kittyhawk fighter aircraft in the South West Pacific theatre during World War II. Following the end of hostilities it re- ...

(

P-40 Kittyhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

's) – 15 April 1942 until July 1942 *

No. 86 Squadron RAAF No. 86 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter squadron of World War II. The squadron was formed in March 1943 and was deployed to Merauke in Dutch New Guinea in July that year. While No. 86 Squadron was stationed at Merauke unt ...

– 13 May 1944 – 26 May 1944 & 10 January 1945 – 20 December 1945 *

No. 100 Squadron RAAF No. 100 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) historic aircraft display squadron. It was originally formed as a bomber and maritime patrol squadron that operated during World War II. Raised in early 1942 from the remnants of a British ...

– 22 September 1942 – 22 November 1942 *

No. 5 Repair and Salvage Unit RAAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

* No. 11 Mobile Fighter Sector RAAF HQ – 11 December 1943 – 10 February 1944 * No. 22 Repair and Salvage Unit RAAF – 11 December 1943 – 10 February 1944 * No. 44 Operational Base Unit RAAF – February 1943 – April 1943

References

OzatWar websitePacific War Airfields Project website
Former Royal Australian Air Force bases Defunct airports in Queensland Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Australia Queensland in World War II {{mil-aviation-stub

Units based at Bohle River Aerodrome

See also

References