RAAF Base Williamtown is a

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

(RAAF)

military air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

located north of the coastal city of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

( by road) in the local government area of Port Stephens, in

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 ...

, Australia. The base serves as the headquarters to both the Air Combat Group and the Surveillance and Response Group of the RAAF. The military base shares its runway facilities with

Newcastle Airport Newcastle or New Castle Airport may refer to: * Newcastle International Airport, an airport in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK ** Newcastle Airport metro station, the Tyne and Wear metro station serving the airport * Newcastle Airport (Nevis), no ...

. The nearest towns are

Raymond Terrace Raymond Terrace is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle on the Pacific Highway. Established in 1837 it is situated at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams rivers. The town was nam ...

, located west of the base and

Medowie 'Medowie'' ( ) is a suburb of the Port Stephens Council, Port Stephens Local government in Australia, local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately by road north of Newcastle, New South Wal ...

, , north of the base, which is home to many of the base's staff. A number of the buildings and other facilities on the base are listed on the

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 ...

History

RAAF Station Williamtown was established on 15 February 1941 to provide protection for the strategic port and steel manufacturing facilities of the Hunter Region. The base was initially served by four runways, each in length to meet the needs of the Williamtown Flying School. The School consisted of 62 buildings which accommodated 366 officers and men. A number of Australian

Empire Air Training Scheme The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

squadrons were formed at Williamtown before proceeding overseas and No. 4 Operational Training Unit was located at Williamtown from October 1942 until the unit was disbanded in April 1944. Following

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 ...

, Williamtown was retained as the RAAF's main fighter base and was equipped with squadrons of

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

and

CAC Sabre The CAC Sabre, sometimes known as the Avon Sabre or CA-27, is an Australian variant of the North American Aviation F-86F Sabre fighter aircraft. The F-86F was redesigned and built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). Equipping five ...

fighters. In 1961, the squadron of Meteors were replaced with the

Dassault Mirage Mirage is a name given to several types of jet aircraft designed by the French company Dassault Aviation (formerly Avions Marcel Dassault), some of which were produced in different variants. Most were supersonic fighters with delta wings. The most s ...

aircraft. On-base facilities were gradually expanded post war and through until the late 1960s. In 1983, the role of Williamtown was upgraded to a tactical fighter base in preparation of the replacement of the Mirages with 75 F/A-18 Hornets in 1989. The following year, Williamtown became headquarters for the Tactical Fighter group and acquired new headquarter buildings, hangars, workshops, stores, medical facilities and a base chapel.

Current base activity

RAAF Williamtown employed approximately 3,500 personnel, including military, civilians and contractors, and generated A$150 million per annum by way of salaries in the Hunter Region economy. Williamtown is home to F/A-18 Hornet fighters (operated by No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit, No. 3 Squadron and No. 77 Squadron), BAE Hawk 127 Lead-In Fighters (operated by No. 76 Squadron), E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft (operated by No. 2 Squadron) and

Pilatus PC-9 The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Designed as a more powerful evolution of the Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9's first flight was made in May 1984 after ...

forward air control aircraft (operated by No. 4 Squadron). It is also home to the Australian Defence Force Warfare Centre and Surveillance and Response Group RAAF. RAAF Base Williamtown has most of the facilities one would expect to find in a small town, including sporting fields, recreation facilities, cinema and a fortnightly newspaper highlighting activities around the Base and outside community. RAAF Williamtown is the home to

Fighter World Fighter World is an Australian not-for-profit aviation heritage centre at RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Newcastle, New South Wales. It is part of RAAF Aviation and Heritage and is operated with the purpose of preserving the history of fighter ...

, a museum dedicated to Australian fighter aircraft. In 2014, the Australian Government announced that Williamtown will be the home base for the

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...

s; the first of which arrived in December 2018, and enter service with the RAAF in 2020. Redevelopment works to prepare the base for the F-35, including a 2000 ft runway extension, began in January 2015. This runway extension will allow fighters to take off without the use of their noisy afterburners, minimising noise for local communities. The use of firefighting chemicals over a sustained period has resulted in contamination of the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

in the area surrounding the base, with residents initiating a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit and expressing ongoing concern in national media over the impact on their properties. Nationally, there are 90 sites impacted by PFAS contamination, with more internationally.

Units

The following units are located at RAAF Base Williamtown:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williamtown Royal Australian Air Force bases Port Stephens Council Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the South West Pacific Theater Military establishments in the Hunter Region Airports in New South Wales 1941 establishments in Australia Airports established in 1941 Military installations established in 1941

History

Current base activity

Units

See also

References

External links