Parafield Airport is on the edge of the residential suburb of Parafield,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, north of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ade ...

and adjacent to the

Mawson Lakes Mawson Lakes is a residential suburb in the City of Salisbury, Adelaide, Australia. Named in honor of Sir Douglas Mawson, it has a census area population of 10,872 people. The suburb is located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide around 12 ...

campus of the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

. It is

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

's second airport and the third busiest airport in Australia by aircraft movements.212,862 total aircraft movements reported for July 2010 to June 2011 placing it behind Sydney, Jandakot, Moorabbin and Bankstown airports
Although owned by the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

, the airport is leased to and managed independently by Parafield Airport Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Adelaide Airport Limited. Parafield was Adelaide's only civil airport until

Adelaide Airport Adelaide Airport , also known as Adelaide International Airport, is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the List of the busiest airports in Australia, fifth-busiest airport in Australia, servicing 8.5 million passenger ...

was opened in February 1955 and is currently used for small aircraft, pilot training and recreational aviation. The airport is home to the University of South Australia Aviation Academy. The airport hosts a

jet fighter Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domination o ...

museum and historic aircraft displays. The museum now houses an authentic flight worthy Wirraway. There are also multiple flight training schools including the University of South Australia Aviation Academy, FTA (Flight Training Adelaide) formerly known as Australian Aviation College, Bruce Hartwig Flying School, AFTC (Adelaide Flight Training Centre), Aerostar Aviation, and Parafield Flying Centre. Parafield Squadron of the

Australian Air League The Australian Air League (AAL) is a not-for-profit, civilian operated aviation youth organisation in Australia. Its objective is to encourage the spirit of aviation and air-mindedness in the youth of Australia. The Australian Air League receive ...

, a national uniformed cadet organisation promoting and encouraging the interest of aviation and flying training in the youth of Australia, is also located at Parafield Airport.

History

The first powered flight in South Australia was of a

Blériot Aéronautique Blériot Aéronautique was a French aircraft manufacturer founded by Louis Blériot. It also made a few motorcycles between 1921 and 1922 and cyclecars during the 1920s. Background Louis Blériot was an engineer who had developed the first p ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

in 1910, south-west of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. In the 1920s investigations began into construction of an airport in Adelaide. Land was initially purchased in Albert Park with the aerodrome site becoming the new suburb of

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

; but within a few years the cost of acquiring sufficient land, neighbouring residential development and the erection of power transmission lines all interfered with airport plans and the Hendon site was effectively abandoned. In 1927, the Commonwealth government purchased of land at Parafield from a family owned farming company for £17,000. The area had been used for fattening sheep on

lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

and other fodder plants. The new airport was expanded in 1942, with the boundary extending west to the

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

railway line. On 1 October 1927, H. C. "Horrie" Miller was the first to land on the Parafield site, ground preparation was completed on the 17th and flights began on 26 November by the Aero Club of South Australia. The site was officially opened as an airport in August 1929 by

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Alexander Hore-Ruthven Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, (; 6 July 1872 – 2 May 1955) was a British Army officer who served as the 10th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1936 to 1945. He was previously Governor ...

. The

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

opened shortly prior to

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 ...

. Prior to the war Guinea Airways was the main company flying out of the airport using: *

de Havilland Fox Moth The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The aircraft was designed late in 1 ...

– DH83 *

de Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rela ...

– DH89 * Lockheed Electra Model 10A *

Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra The Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra was an American civil passenger and cargo aircraft built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation during the late 1930s. An outgrowth of the earlier Model 10 Electra, the Model 14 was also developed into larger, ...

* Messerschmidt Taifun *

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

* Lockheed 18 Lodestar *

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

5-A During World War II, the

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

(RAAF) occupied the airfield as a station for basic

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

and was home to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School (No. 1 EFTS) between 1939 and 1944 until it moved to Tamworth,

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 ...

. A relief landing ground was located near

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. No. 34 Squadron utilised Parafield to deliver supplies to operational bases and aerodromes in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

between 1943 and February 1945. In addition,

No. 238 Squadron RAF No. 238 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed in 1918 by combining number 347, 348 and 349 Flights at RAF Cattewater by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. It was reformed for the Second World War, the ...

was based at Parafield from June to December 1945, from where it flew Dakota aircraft in support of the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships ...

as part of No. 300 Group RAF. After the war ended, transport was also handled by

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 ...

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 ...

both moving to Adelaide Airport in 1955 which now handles all regular passenger transport. In 1983 a group of trees was planted by local high school students. When fully grown, from the air they clearly spelt out the word "PARAFIELD". As of 2007 the trees had been removed. The Parafield Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is listed on the

Australian Commonwealth Heritage List The Commonwealth Heritage List is a heritage register established in 2003, which lists places under the control of the Australian government, on land or in waters directly owned by the Crown (in Australia, the Crown in right of the Commonwealth ...

Classic Jets Fighter Museum

Parafield airport houses the Classic Jets Fighter Museum. Founded in the 1980s, the collection includes a

Lockheed P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

and a

Bell 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 ...

Classic Jets Airshow accident

On 17 March 2013, a

Supermarine Aircraft Spitfire Mk26 The Supermarine Aircraft Spitfire is an American homebuilt aircraft produced in kit form by Supermarine Aircraft.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 71. Belvoir Public ...

, an 80% scale home-build replica of the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, crashed into a fence between two businesses in a commercial area on Frost Road in the nearby suburb of

, whilst completing a routine at the airshow, killing the pilot.

Triumph in the Skies

Hong Kong TVB filmed flight training scenes for their series ''

Triumph in the Skies ''Triumph in the Skies'' is a Hong Kong drama television series that premiered on TVB in 2003, starring Francis Ng, Flora Chan, Joe Ma and Myolie Wu. The drama tells the lives of pilots working for the fictional Solar Airways based on Hong Kon ...

'' at the Parafield Airport.

Noise pollution

The airport has been criticised by local residents for contributing to

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

, particularly after the opening of a flight school and the resulting increase in planes flying traffic patterns.

Accidents and Incidents

* In 2018, a Cessna 172 crashed into a paddock next to Parafield Airport. The plane took off but it started to have problems immediately and the pilot caused the plane to crash. There were no deaths or injuries.

References

External links

*
Airliners.Net pictures at Parafield AirportClassic Jets Fighter Museum
{{Authority control Airports in South Australia Transport in Adelaide Airports established in 1927 Aerospace museums in Australia Military and war museums in Australia