Hughes Airfield (32 Mile) is an

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

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 ...

located in the locality of

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

. It was constructed 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 military use. The airfield now functions as a base for aerial firefighting aircraft to protect the outer rural suburbs of Darwin. The airfield was built by the U.S. Army engineering unit, the

808th Engineer Aviation Battalion 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, from 10 March 1942 until 13 April 1942. The runway was long and wide.

World War II use

Units based at Hughes Airfield

No. 2 Squadron RAAF No. 2 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron that operates from RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle, New South Wales. From its formation in 1916 as part of the Australian Flying Corps, it has flown a variety of aircraft types ...

No. 13 Squadron RAAF No. 13 (City of Darwin) Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron. The unit saw combat during World War II as a bomber and maritime patrol squadron and is currently active as a mixed regular and reserve RAAF unit located in Darwi ...

No. 34 Squadron RAAF No. 34 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) VIP transport squadron. It operates Boeing 737 Business Jets and Dassault Falcon 7Xs from Defence Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra. The squadron was formed in February 1942 fo ...

(15 July 1942 – 27 August 1942) * No. 82 Squadron RAAF

Japanese Bombing Raids against Hughes Airfield

* 23 August 1942 (12:12 pm) * 26 November 1942 (03.20 a.m.) * 27 November 1942 (03:56 - 04:46 am)

Present Day

On 5 September 2011, the Hughes Airfield was added to the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the ''Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained b ...

. On 25 January 2012, the

Northern Territory Government The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...

awarded a contract to repair and resurface the airstrip to

Downer EDI Works Downer EDI Works Limited (previously Public Works department, Ministry of Works and Works Infrastructure Limited and often simply Works) is a New Zealand based engineering and construction company owned by the Downer Group. History It was acquire ...

. This will better enable access to the strip for the

Air Tractor AT-802 The Air Tractor AT-802 is an American agricultural aircraft that may also be adapted into fire-fighting or armed versions. It first flew in the United States in October 1990 and is manufactured by Air Tractor The AT-802 carries a chemical hopper ...

water-bombing aircraft, operated from the strip by Bushfires NT since 2009. In addition to the resurfacing works, a water tank has also been installed on site, allowing mobile pumps to be used to load firefighting aircraft. It has been proposed that construction of the new satellite city of Weddell to the northwest should include a general aviation airport separate from

Darwin International Airport Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin. The airport is located in Darwin's northern suburbs, from Darwin cit ...

. While no formal commitment to building a new general aviation facility in the Greater Darwin area has yet been made by the Northern Territory Government, the runway alignment of 11/29 at Hughes is the preferred option for such a concept.

References

External links

OzatWar website

Lt. Col Bernard L. Robinson Reports on the NT June 1942
Former Royal Australian Air Force bases World War II airfields in Australia Defunct airports in the Northern Territory Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Australia Northern Territory Heritage Register {{NorthernTerritory-stub