RAAF Base Amberley is a

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

(RAAF)

military airbase 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 southwest of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

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 , establishe ...

in Australia and southwest of

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

. It is currently home to No. 1 Squadron (operating the

F/A-18F Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more ad ...

), No. 6 Squadron (operating the

EA-18G Growler The Boeing EA-18G Growler is an American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet. The EA-18G replaced the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowlers in service with the United States Navy. ...

), No. 33 Squadron (operating the Airbus KC-30A), No. 35 Squadron (operating the

C-27J Spartan The Alenia C-27J Spartan is a military transport aircraft developed and manufactured by Leonardo's Aircraft Division (formerly Alenia Aermacchi until 2016). It is an advanced derivative of Alenia Aeronautica's earlier G.222 (C-27A Spartan in ...

) and No. 36 Squadron (operating the Boeing

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of t ...

). Amberley is also home to Army units making up the

9th Force Support Battalion The 9th Force Support Battalion (9 FSB) is an Australian Army logistics battalion. Formed on 1 August 1998, following the amalgamation of a number of Army Air Dispatch, air despatch, military police, ships army detachments, personnel and transp ...

(9 FSB). Located on , RAAF Amberley is the largest operational base in the RAAF, employing over 5,000 uniformed and civilian personnel. There are a variety of other formations on the base such as training colleges and maintenance areas. Amberley's largest squadron in terms of personnel is No. 382 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron RAAF (ECSS) providing both garrison and deployed

combat support In the United States Army, the term combat support refers to units that provide fire support and operational assistance to combat elements. Combat support units provide specialized support functions to combat units in the following areas * Chemi ...

. Amberley was one of only two airfields in Australia (the other being

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 ...

) that were listed as a Transoceanic Abort (TOA) landing site for the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

. Amberley is currently undergoing a A$64 million dollar re-development program. The RAAF has plans to have Amberley operating as its "superbase" with flights of F/A-18F Super Hornets, KC-30A, C-17 Globemaster and the C-27J Spartan.

History

The need for a RAAF base in Brisbane was identified in the 1930s. of land ca 8km south-west of the city of Ipswich was gazetted for defence purposes on 12 December 1938. This land was called Jeebropilly by the original land-owners of the Jagera, the Yuggera and Ugarapul clans. The name Jeebropilly denotes the flood plain that the region is. The base was initially planned to house a general purpose squadron with 300 officers and men. At the outbreak of

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 opposing ...

the handful of brick buildings were still incomplete and many extra buildings were constructed quickly using wood and

fibro Asbestos cement, genericized as fibro, fibrolite (short for "fibrous (or fibre) cement sheet") or AC sheet, is a building material in which asbestos fibres are used to reinforce thin rigid cement sheets. Although invented at the end of the 19t ...

. The base opened in June 1940 with the first unit based there being No. 24 Squadron. From May 1942 the base changed roles from flying operations to mainly assembly and repair of aircraft. Amberley GIF

The base was a major

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 ...

base during 1942 and 1943. Known

Fifth Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organizat ...

units assigned to "Amberley Field" were: The US facilities were transferred to Australia in 1947. After the war it became the base for the RAAF's heavy bombers operated by No. 1, No. 2 and

No. 6 ''No. 6'' is a Japanese novel series written by Atsuko Asano and published by Kodansha in nine volumes between October 2003 and June 2011. A manga adaptation drawn by Hinoki Kino was serialized in Kodansha's ''Aria'' magazine from January 201 ...

squadrons. The reserve No. 23 (City of Brisbane) Squadron relocated from

RAAF Station Archerfield RAAF Station Archerfield was a permanent Royal Australian Air Force station at Archerfield Airport in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from 1939 to 1956. History 1939–1945 At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Royal Austra ...

to Amberley in 1955. In 1965, the US extended a "Joint Research Program for Measuring the Physical Effects of Disturbances in the Atmosphere or in Space with particular emphasis on their effect on Radio Communications" from

RAAF Base Pearce RAAF Base Pearce is the main Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base in Western Australia. The base is located in Bullsbrook, north of Perth. It is used for training by the RAAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Pearce is ...

to the base at Amberley.

Current layout

The current layout of the aerodrome consists of two runways, 3km and 1.5km long.

Current units

The following units are based at RAAF Base Amberley:

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amberley Royal Australian Air Force bases Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia Airports in Queensland Military buildings and structures in Queensland Ipswich, Queensland Queensland in World War II Amberley Amberley Amberley, Queensland Military installations in Queensland Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites

History

Current layout

Current units

See also

References

Further reading

External links