Fe a tu r e
Airbases: Now. Then. Always Airbases do not feature significantly in the history of air power unless they are denied. Absence or scarcity is what usually brings them to prominence. The Pacific theatre of World War II has been described as a battle for airfields with islands taken or bypassed according to the significance of airfields. The lack of focus on airfields is surprising, given that Australia’s fixedwing aviation depends on them to operate. For the foreseeable future, civil and military aviation will require airfields. The potential location of airfields is constrained by terrain, both natural and human. To support most military and civilian aviation needs, airfields must be 3000 metres long and have high pavement strength. While pavements can be built if required, three kilometres of clear, level and firm ground close to the support of human habitation is not common. This proximity to habitation is driven by access to logistics, workforce and consumables. This also creates some competition for these resources with industry and growing communities. The majority of the world’s airports and airbases were built more than half a century ago, and the options for future airfields are constrained; the multi-decade delay to construction of Sydney’s Badgery Creek airport is testament. Military airbases face greater issue with noise templates and international law constraints. Air forces focus on platforms, land forces focus on the soldier, and navies on ships. Mounting bases, unless the
site of a major battle, are generally ignored in history. Aircraft are the ‘totems’ of airpower, both figuratively and literally, judging by the number mounted on posts outside airbases. Airfields feature rarely, with the Battle of Britain being a notable exception where sector stations such as RAF Biggin Hill becoming famous in their own right. Airbases must receive greater attention as essential foundations of air power. One of the traditional considerations for the application of air power is impermanence; yet airbases provide the equivalent permanence of mounting operations in any other operational domain, and air fundamental to air power. This consideration captures the always theme of the RAAF centenary. To look at then, we must cast back into history. The characteristics of level and clear ground, close to support drove Henry Petre’s selection of Point Cook as the site for Australia’s first airbase, over Duntroon. At sea level and near the city and port of Melbourne, Point Cook was a far better choice. These characteristics remain pertinent today, with consideration of RAAF Base Scherger continuing to highlight the importance to airbases of access to support, including fuel supply. Following No 1 Squadron’s deployment to the Palestinian Campaign in 1916, as part of the Australian Flying Corps
(AFC), bases were then selected on the same enduring constraints. Power projection and the ability to defend were also identified as essential characteristics for airbases during conflict. Long transits are demanding of crew, fuel and maintenance. Airbases close to the front became targets for enemy attack. The AFC developed a model of three types of bases: an aeroplane park for delivery, assembly, and maintenance; an operating base, home to the workforce and logistics; and forward landing grounds that placed aircraft temporarily close to front. The aeroplane parks were semipermanent, with many surviving the war. Operating bases and forward landing fields, by contrast, moved with the tide of war. The peace that followed World War I saw airbases become permanent establishments with tarmac runways and permanent maintenance facilities. All of these elements were useful for raising, training and sustaining the force, but less suited to war. The fate of Darwin in 1942 highlights the risk of short memories, and that efficiency is not the same as effectiveness. The rapid retreat inland from Darwin and the proliferation of dispersed landing grounds along the highways south and west, to disperse and protect aircraft, fuel and maintenance assets is a lesson that should not be forgotten.
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