Eagle Farm Airport
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Eagle Farm Airport was a small airport located north-east of
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
in the suburb of
Eagle Farm, Queensland Eagle Farm is an eastern industrial suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Eagle Farm had a population of 0 people. The neighbourhood of Whinstanes is located in Eagle Farm (). Geography Eagle Farm is situated nor ...
, Australia.


History

An area located near
Eagle Farm Racecourse Eagle Farm Racecourse is a heritage-listed horse racing venue in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located at the northern end of Racecourse Road in the suburb of Ascot, from the Brisbane central business district. The turf track is wi ...
was initially used as a landing field in 1922 and Eagle Farm Aerodrome was officially opened in 1925. It was used for scheduled flights between Brisbane and
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
regional centres by the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (Qantas), which operated from Eagle Farm in 1926 and formed the Brisbane Flying Training School there in 1927. Sir
Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...
,
Charles Ulm Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (18 October 1898 – 3 December 1934) was a pioneer Australian aviator. He partnered with Charles Kingsford Smith in achieving a number of aviation firsts, serving as Kingsford Smith's co-pilot on the first transpaci ...
, Harry Lyon (navigator) and James Warner (radio operator) landed the
Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...
at Eagle Farm on 9 June 1928 after its trans-Pacific flight from
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
. About 16,000 people greeted the Southern Cross upon its landing. The
Australian National Airways Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The Holyman's Airways period On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...
(ANA) began an aerial service from Eagle Farm to
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
in 1930. Eagle Farm was closed 31 January 1931 after civil operations were relocated to
Archerfield Airport Archerfield can refer to: * Archerfield, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane, Australia **Archerfield Airport **RAAF Station Archerfield, a former RAAF base at Archerfield Airport *Archerfield Estate and Links Archerfield and Archerfield Links are a ...
. A number of hangars were relocated to Archerfield, and the QANTAS one still stands. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Gordon Taylor took off from Eagle Farm airport on 20 October 1934 in the
Lady Southern Cross The ''Lady Southern Cross'' was a Lockheed Altair monoplane owned by Australian pioneer aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. In this aircraft, Kingsford Smith made the first eastward trans-Pacific flight from Australia to the United States, i ...
attempting the first eastward trans-Pacific flight from Australia to the
United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
.


World War II

The aerodrome was compulsorily acquired and taken over by the
Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
on 8 March 1940. US forces built all the facilities at Eagle farm and built the drainage canals to deal with the swampy areas. It was not returned to Australian ownership until 31 January 1947, exactly sixteen years after the civilian closure, and was reopened for civil flights on 10 March 1947. Eagle Farm was extended and reopened in January 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 ...
by the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF), due to the proximity to the Brisbane River. The aerodrome was used as a reassembly and test airfield for aircraft shipped from the United States. A testing area was built at Eagle Farm to test
Allison engine The Allison Engine Company was an American aircraft engine manufacturer. Shortly after the death of James Allison in 1929 the company was purchased by the Fisher brothers. Fisher sold the company to General Motors, which owned it for most of it ...
s that had been assembled or overhauled at the GMH Allison Overhaul Assembly Plant at
Albion, Queensland Albion is an inner north-eastern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Albion had a population of 2,296 people. Geography Albion is bounded by Wooloowin in the north, Ascot in the east, Newstead in the south, and Wi ...
. The
Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIU) were joint Allied military intelligence units formed during World War II to recover Japanese aircraft to obtain data regarding their technical and tactical capabilities. The first such unit, known later as ...
(ATAIU) of the Allied Air Forces utilised Hangar No. 7 at Eagle Farm to test and to train in captured
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 ...
aircraft.


Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit (ATAIU)

At the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour and the outbreak of the Pacific War on 7 December 1941, Allied forces had virtually no knowledge of Japanese aircraft or their performance capabilities. To sort out this dilemma became the responsibility of the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit (ATAIU) under the command of General MacArthur. The unit gathered crashed and captured Japanese planes, superior to anything in the Allied air forces, and rebuilt them to fly over Brisbane so engineers could develop new aircraft to match them. The Eagle Farm unit eventually rebuilt at least 30 aircraft. Japanese flight instruments were replaced by US instruments, engine instruments were retained and US radio equipment and oxygen system replaced the Japanese types. Captain Frank T. McCoy Jr. and Technical Sergeant Francis 'Fran' Williams headed up a 'Materiel Section' to evaluate captured Japanese equipment. Williams suggested a series of simple code names. Japanese fighter aircraft were given male names, bombers were given female names and transport aircraft were given names starting with the letter T. The coding system became known as MacArthur Southwest Pacific Code Name System. McCoy's group became responsible for producing code names and associated silhouettes for aircraft identification. McCoy, Williams and others initially used their own names for aircraft, then went to relatives and friends for more names. The bomber Louise was named after Frank McCoy's wife and June was named after his daughter. Flight Sergeant George Rimmington RAAF, was the ATAIU's technical illustrator. He produced silhouette drawings for aircraft recognition. His name George was used to identify the Kawanishi N1K-J Navy interceptor fighter. On 9 October 1942, Lieutenant Clyde Gessel was assigned as the Enemy Equipment Engineer. In early 1943, he was notified Australian Infantry soldiers had encountered what appeared to be a new type of Japanese aircraft at Buna airfield in New Guinea. Gessel flew to Port Moresby to recover the aircraft and by 24 February 1943 the remains of five wrecked aircraft were used to build a single flyable 'Zeke 32', a variation of the Japanese Zero. Captain William Farrior was the first to fly the rebuilt Zeke 32 at Eagle Farm, for 30 minutes, on 20 July 1943. To help produce identification photographs the Zero was painted in Japanese colours and flown around Brisbane with an escort. By 10 August 1943, ATAIU had flown the Zero six times. Mock dogfights between the Zero and a Mk V Spitfire were carried out at Eagle Farm on 14, 17 and 18 August 1943. The Zero proved better than the Spitfire below 20,000 feet. Japanese planes were lighter, the Zeke 32 and the Oscar using a single piece wing rather than two wings attached at heavy wing root plates and the fuselages had holes drilled in the ribs to lighten them. Three Nakajima Ki.43 Oscars were used to rebuild a single flyable Oscar, the Japanese work horse of the air. Its tail number XJ002 signified it was the second aircraft rebuilt at Hangar 7, while XJ denoted the status – Experimental Japanese.


Units based at Eagle Farm Aerodrome

*
8th Fighter Group 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...
, 6 March – 29 July 1942
P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...
* 35th Fighter Group, 1 February 1942 – March 1942
P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...
,
Curtiss P-40 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 ...
: Headquarters and the 70th Fighter Squadron sailed for Australia on 12 January 1942. Three days later all the combat squadrons were relieved and three others, still in the US, were assigned. Headquarters reached Australia in February 1942 and moved on to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. * 3d Airdrome Squadron, 1942 * 81st Depot Repair Squadron, August 1942 * 93d Depot Repair Squadron * 15th Weather Squadron, 1944 * 126th Signal Radio Intelligence Company (US Army), 23 March 1943 – July 1944 * 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 1 February 1943 – 31 March 1944


Post war

After World War II, Ansett ANA and
Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...
moved their operations to Eagle Farm on 10 March 1947. Archerfield saw its last airliner operation on 29 May 1949. Both airlines used old USAAF
igloos An igloo (Inuit languages: , Inuktitut syllabics (plural: )), also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow. Although igloos are often associated with all Inuit, they were traditionally used only b ...
as terminals, and an international flights igloo was located between the two. In September 1971 the TAA igloo burnt down (suspected by many as deliberate) and TAA then operated from the international igloo until a new domestic terminal opened in 1975. By the 1960s it was clear that the facilities at Eagle Farm were inadequate for a city of Brisbane's size and anticipated growth. Many long-haul international services to Asia were required to make an en route stop (i.e. Darwin), disadvantaging the city to lure prospective carriers and business opportunities. As a result, the
Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
announced the construction of a new airport to be built north of Eagle Farm. The Federal Government completed the first compulsory acquisition of nearby houses in 1969, and the process continued for another twelve years. The new airport was built by
Leighton Contractors CIMIC Group Limited (formerly Leighton Holdings) is an Australian construction contractor. It is active in the telecommunications, engineering and infrastructure, building and property, mining and resources, and environmental services industries ...
and
Brisbane Airport Brisbane Airport is the primary international airport serving Brisbane and South East Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, in total amounting to more than 22.7 million passeng ...
opened in 1988. Much of the old Eagle Farm Airport disappeared under the Gateway Motorway.


Layout

The
TAA Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...
and
Ansett Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into adminis ...
domestic terminals at Eagle Farm Airport were reached from Lamington Avenue, near the
Doomben Racecourse Doomben Racecourse is a horse racing venue in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located in the suburb of Ascot, 7 kilometres north of the Brisbane central business district. The Doomben course neighbours another thoroughbred venue cal ...
. The main runway ran from there to the north-east, and its north-east end survives as taxiway Papa of the present airport. The international terminal was in the earlier years, on the same apron as the domestic terminals, but in 1975 a new terminal was built near the other end of the runway, and was used for the next twenty years. This terminal is now the cargo terminal. Eagle Farm Airport's runways were: Main Runway 04/22 and secondary runway , in a T-shape, with the main runway roughly parallel to the river. The main runway had a full parallel taxiway, runway edge lighting was provided on all runways, T-VASIS lighting on runways 04 and 22, and high intensity Calvert white precision approach lighting on runway 22. Navigation aids were a VOR/DME beacon, a NDB, and an instrument landing system Category I on runway 22. 2,421,109 passengers used the airport in 1977.


Accidents and incidents

A number of aircraft crashed at Eagle Farm during World War II. *25 November 1942 –
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force ( nl, Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger, ML-KNIL) was the air arm of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from 1939 until ...
, Curtiss-Wright CW-22 Falcon *14 January 1943 – USAAF,
B-25C Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
, Serial Number #41-12438 *28 March 1943 – USAAF, B-25C Mitchell, Serial Number #42-32314 *23 April 1943 – USAAF, B-25C Mitchell, Serial Number #41-12496 *12 July 1943 – USAAF, Curtiss-Wright CW-22B, Serial Number #65-3765 *21 July 1943 – ATIU, captured A6M3 "Hamp" *18 September 1945 – USAAF, C-47A Dakota, Serial Number #42-23485


See also

*
United States Army Air Forces in Australia During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces established a series of airfields in Australia for the collective defense of the country, as well as for conducting offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. From thes ...
(World War II) *
List of airports in Queensland This is a list of airports in the Australian state of Queensland. __TOC__ List of airports The list is sorted by the name of the community served, click the sort buttons in the table header to switch listing order. Airports named in bold are D ...


References


Bibliography


OzatWar website

Queensland Government Heritage Listing

USAF Historical Research Agency Document Search

USAF Historical Research Agency Document Search
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . * * {{authority control Former Royal Australian Air Force bases Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia Defunct airports in Queensland Airports established in 1925 Queensland in World War II