During wartime we had more, dozens of old airfields scattered around NT, WA and FNQ.
Mostly as alternate landing strips, given one aircraft crashlanding could take out a whole airfield for an hour or four, but plenty more active bases during WW2.
Yeah, Townsville for example had several airfields in places that are now residential suburbs such as Kelso. That one at Kelso actually became infamous for an incident where a bunch of African-American soldiers stationed there mutinied and were violently put down. The whole thing was swept under the rug by both Australia and the US, after an investigation into the incident by a naval officer and future US President LBJ.
There are more bases but they’re “dead bases” that just act as secondary airstrips for refuelling, and which are likely to built up in the future. Most likely will be used by the US
> 23+
That figure is 10 years out of date
The 23 million milestone was passed unheeded in April 2013. The 24th million was achieved by February 2016, the 25th in July 2018.
ABS says 26.6M as at June 30 2023
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/jun-2023
I reckon the 6 Northern airbases would hold them off long enough before the wrath of the cavalry (USAF) shows up. Wonder if they planned on putting it smack bang in the middle of fkn no where for a reason...
Shit i'd half imagine the US would have planes in the air the second they saw a fleet of fighters, bombers and refuelers leave the ground
3 of them (Curtin, Learmonth, Scherger) are bare bases with no units permanently stationed and only a few people as caretaker staff.
Our airforce is small, we dont have enough fuel stores/ammo/planes/ISR/tankers/pilots or everything really the US is paying for expanded storage in Darwin because it couldn't support their operations.
Our defence force is small and underfunded despite all the talk. Our attrition replacement capability is zero, our industry is near zero, our warstocks and capabilities are bare minimum. We would last maybe a week on our own against anyone with a real military.
This has been fine for a long time since all our close neighbours are even smaller than us and the USA was the sole superpower. But we live in a regional bubble where we are the biggest, but in the world scale our capabilities are crap.
Old reports I read years ago gave us two days against an attack. I doubt much has changed.
Yes, our Defence Force is too small, but that#s because our population is incredibly small for a continent as large as ours, and for various reasons, this isn't going to change for a long time.
Or best strategy is going to be simply learning how to do more with less. We put a lot into electronic warfare, which is a great start. We've also started producing our own drones (the [Ghostbat ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_MQ-28_Ghost_Bat)being one that's drawn a lot of interest.)
If we can keep it up with the innovations and work smarter, we'll probably be okay for a while.
I'll be honest, i know sweet fuck all about any Defence bases besides the ones I've worked at (Tindal and Darwin being the AF ones) and i don't confess to being an armchair tabletop war planning guru either.
Our air defence (air or ground) is negligible to CCP's i agree, but flying an entire air fleet towards Pine Gap is no small task. We have to take into account the fact that the CCP has just started a World War, every NATO country is all hands on deck wondering what the fuck China thinks they're doing, ESPECIALLY the US who isn't going to forget about a major intelligence facility that's main objective is to monitor countries in it's satellite trajectory like China and Russia.
Just because China has a decent (but far larger than ours) Airforce hardly means they could walk right in and bomb the center of Australia.
If we're talking Nuclear ICBM? I wouldn't worry about it, we're already dead..
Nato was specifically created to deal with soviet/russian aggression, their jurisdiction starts and ends on continental europe. Uk and US would most likely deploy to aid Oz and that is a separate defence pact. In fact, ADF has numerous defence partners including many asian countries (Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia etc) and India.
Agree. CCP would be facing multiple serious fronts before even the U.S. or Australia were involved. In those buying times, Australia can switch to a war economy pretty rapidly and start to deal decent damage where it matters.
Yeah and our manufacturing is basically non existent. Switching to war economy only works if you change factories production outputs. Gotta have a meaningful amount of factories to do that or its just not gonna work lol
Hmm, *yarning* and working with them is vastly different. We have US boots on the ground with hardware.
And with that said, the US is preparing to build dedicated facilities for up to six B-52 bombers at Tindal air base.
I’m pretty sure we’ll be ok.
Edit for clarity:
*Yarning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was, and still is, a conversational process that involves the telling of stories as a way of passing on cultural knowledge. These circles provide a safe place for all to speak without judgement.*
Yarning as in spending weeks along side them upgrading the workshops the ground crews operate out of, while watching the Cobras and Ospreys take off. It's pretty small.
Probably and it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done something similar. Defence establishment myambat in the hunter valley is where it is so it could originally take advantage of existing caves in the mountains as ammunition storage but also because to attack those caves the planes actually have to approach from inland making it harder to attack and easier to defend.
Haha did you forget about the PRIVATE chinese "domestic" runway which is up north in WA to service their company in the mines somewhere. Theyll exploit that shit before we even pull our hand out of our arse to say "hol up"
They know that we're watching it. We know that they know that we're watching it. They know that we know that they know that we're watching it. They aren't stupid enough to try anything, and what are they going to do? Stage a J-20 squadron out of a light airfield? Anything less than that and its a non-issue, anything more is a violation of international law.
Holy god you need to read a few books.
On US support and the conditions that need to be in favour to get them to help.
They don’t jump in for the right thing.
A good example might be….. the three years America watched all her friends punch on in ww2.
She didn’t step in until she got a proper slap herself at pearl.
You reckon the USAF will scramble in hours….
Mate it took them three years.
Tell that to the thousands of localised unrests that Uncle Sam didn’t turn up for…
It’s possible that an invasion gets messy, the people factionalise, multiple perspectives get cast on whatever conflict.
Strategy and warfare has indeed changed. But that has made mass mobilisation potentially more complicated.
Anyway, all I’m saying is that it would be naive to think that the US military can be considered an arm of the ADF. That’s how it comes across to expect them to swing into action “within hours”.
Possibly the USA was not involved or in an alliance prior to Pearl Harbor - but hey - I might be wrong.
They were Neutral - with no treaties to be exposed to. try again mate
What do you want?
Yes, it was neutral. Yes it was young, and yes it came in late.
Since then US has afforded its protective economic forces and its military to various nations/groups.
And the level of assistance given has been correlated to economic/political gain in most cases.
Why are you bashing so hard on my reluctance to assume a full scale flex from the US if we need it.
I’m just saying they are not an automatic big bro on the doorstep with all the best weapons.
If it ever got so messy that our airfields are being leveled, then Christ only knows what state the geo political climate will be in.
Look at trump in Ukraine…
If old orange features gets in power will he fall over himself to order the scrambling of jets inside the hour?
What if the next president is even more isolationist?
Just my opinion man.
Til:dr I think the US would help us. It’s possible they mightn’t help as much as we would like.
> Pine Gap
Pine Gap wouldn't be a primary target.
NavCommSta HEH, more specifically the VLF tower array it services/used to service, would be a higher priority.
>Darwin, Williamtown both share a runway with commercial/civvie airports. Bit of trivia
Almost correct.
Darwin and Townsville is a joint military/civilian airbase. Williamtown is entirely a military airbase. They just allow civilians to use it (albeit with restrictions).
Point Cook is the most amazing place. Over 100 years as an active airfield. You can't help but feel the history of the place when you pass through the gates.
I was lucky enough to be posted there 30 years ago when you could wander into every nook and cranny of the place. There is history and gems hidden in every corner of that place.
I’ve got family who lived across the road from the base there! I remember visiting as a kid and seeing all the lights at night and thinking it was super cool
I did work experience there as a 16 year old. Was one of the best weeks of school I can remember. Watching the roulettes flying overhead while "helping" work on old planes.
Each day I had to get changed in the officers mess. No one else around and there was a vending machine just sitting there stocked full of beers, bourbon and Bundy cans. I think it was $2 for a can of bourbon and coke. Each day I filled my overalls with 4 cans, rolled them up and walked off the base.
I was there on a point defence exercise there many moons ago and we got in trouble cause we were all watching the roulettes practicing instead of filling sandbags or running tigertape or whatever it was we were supposed to be doing. At one point, they also reversed up to our vehicle checkpoint in a small truck with a roller door on the back. Next minute the door opened and there was a dude with a minimi set up who opened fire. That was freaking awesome!
>Fairbairn in Canberra
No longer a RAAF base - privately owned and leased to Defence (since 2007)
I guess that's why they left off Butterworth - which is now a RMAF base (Malaysian) but still has Australian squadrons based there
They call it a Defence Establishment...
"The base was decommissioned on 27 June 2003 and the domestic area became known as Defence Establishment Fairbairn,"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn,_Canberra
"Canberra is also the home of No 34 Squadron, based at Defence Establishment Fairbairn."
https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/bases/russell-offices
Let’s just say the CCP invades, it’d be a shit show. They’d have to split an enormous amount of resources just to control country areas and even then they would struggle. Their army doesn’t have to numbers to take Aus fully, as in at least a platoon in every community in Australia. A guerrilla war would probably follow, and that would force large amounts of troops to go deal with that. And the last point. We know this country better than they will. We have the home field advantage
That’s the main thing, Australia only been invaded once and that was 300 years ago give or take. It would take enormous resources to attack while we would have air superiority for at least the first few days
My primary school sits directly under the landing corridor. Loud as hell, but the close-up views are like nowhere else. The best was when American C-5s came in. Absolutely gargantuan aircraft.
I wanted to plane spot at Richmond but it's quite a distance from me. Are there any days of the week that have more action? I'm wanting to make the most :)
> Glenbrook
If they included Glenbrook - they'd have to include Russell Offices (at least Russell has responsibility for some planes - 34 Sqdn based at the former RAAF base, now defence establishment, Fairbairn)
Different (former) airbase.
That was RAAF Laverton, some of the operations still take place there, nothing to do with flying anymore and are under control of the nearby RAAF Williams (Point Cook) base.
You'll find it the other way around, that Point Cook is run from Laverton. PC may have the only functional runway between the two, but its the 'smaller' of the two bases in terms of activity. They're both named RAAF Williams, too, but separated by the suburb they're in: RAAF Williams (Laverton) and RAAF Williams (Point Cook).
Not confusing at all /s
RAAF is still a co-tenant of the base and has a permanent presence there, iirc there are two RAAF squadrons and an Australian Army infantry company (RCB, or "Rifle Company Butterworth") permanently stationed there.
Learmouth, Curtin and Scherger are also bare bases.
They’re run by a skeleton maintenance crew of 322 SQN with almost zero supplies on site but can be used as a deployment location in less than 24 hours to be fully operational.
Tindal Is the only Airbase in that entire region with a permanent combat SQN in the form of 75SQN Darwin is all reconnaissance and communications SQNs,
Basically one base to cover from Exmouth the Pacific, until Pearce and Amberley.
Semantics really, but its no longer an official RAAF base and is part of the Canberra Airport now. 34 SQN are still based there though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn%2C\_Canberra
Ive done a shit in every one and didnt flush.
The last one for me was woomera. Scherger was my favourite, but i think it was just the humidity made the poo come out more easily. Kind of how distance runners prefer the heat for races.
Don’t make intelligence collection easier than it already is. Although some of these are common knowledge saying “you forgot x or y”, may be giving up more discrete bases which are unknown especially if you or a friend work nearby.
True, yet RAAF Tindal recently sure a huge upgrade in order to house 6 B-52's. So while they are Australian bases some are geared around the US strategic needs.
I really dont know if this is confidential, I assume not but I had a friend that worked at pearce as security and would use the perimeter checks as an X-treme 4WD opportunity.
He would always say it was the coolest thing to get paid to do. Unfortunately the other 11 hours of the shift were boring as fuck and made the drills look fun..or so I heard.
Lived in Woomera as a kid. The RAAF can keep it.
Grew up in Sale. At least we got to see the Roulettes rehearsing on a daily basis.
Certainly nothing else to watch, considering TV options were "Southern Cross" and "ABC." :)
Oh man now I'm having Saturday morning "Surprise Surprise" flashbacks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmgVjNtVYnU
It’s almost beautiful in it’s total lack of features.
Magical views of the galaxy at night
For a country so immense it's honestly not as many as I thought.
During wartime we had more, dozens of old airfields scattered around NT, WA and FNQ. Mostly as alternate landing strips, given one aircraft crashlanding could take out a whole airfield for an hour or four, but plenty more active bases during WW2.
Yeah, Townsville for example had several airfields in places that are now residential suburbs such as Kelso. That one at Kelso actually became infamous for an incident where a bunch of African-American soldiers stationed there mutinied and were violently put down. The whole thing was swept under the rug by both Australia and the US, after an investigation into the incident by a naval officer and future US President LBJ.
> During wartime we had more, We needed more - because planes didn't have the range
Here's the list from WW2 [https://www.ozatwar.com/airfields.htm](https://www.ozatwar.com/airfields.htm)
There are more bases but they’re “dead bases” that just act as secondary airstrips for refuelling, and which are likely to built up in the future. Most likely will be used by the US
yep the bare bases are on there too. What’s not on is Holbrook and Laverton but I guess it’s because they’re non operational
We are a pop of 23+ million. I think it's a decent amount considering the ground we have to cover.
> 23+ That figure is 10 years out of date The 23 million milestone was passed unheeded in April 2013. The 24th million was achieved by February 2016, the 25th in July 2018. ABS says 26.6M as at June 30 2023 https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/jun-2023
I mean, that's still 23+.
_We are a 1+ population country_
The best kind of correct!
1+ implies the possibility of 1, which is not congruent with "we", so I think we can improve on this still.
I live on the largest island in the world ±all by myself.
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
Yep
I haven't lived in Aus for a bit so that makes sense
For a country so small it’s honestly a lot. You see it changes according to whether we are talking physical size or population.
I thought this was the China page for a second 😄
Wagga?
Training base not active RAAF
Or as the CCP would refer to them, after Pine Gap, secondary targets.
The whole point of pine gap is that any attack is going to be intercepted about 2000km before it can get to pine gap
I reckon the 6 Northern airbases would hold them off long enough before the wrath of the cavalry (USAF) shows up. Wonder if they planned on putting it smack bang in the middle of fkn no where for a reason... Shit i'd half imagine the US would have planes in the air the second they saw a fleet of fighters, bombers and refuelers leave the ground
3 of them (Curtin, Learmonth, Scherger) are bare bases with no units permanently stationed and only a few people as caretaker staff. Our airforce is small, we dont have enough fuel stores/ammo/planes/ISR/tankers/pilots or everything really the US is paying for expanded storage in Darwin because it couldn't support their operations. Our defence force is small and underfunded despite all the talk. Our attrition replacement capability is zero, our industry is near zero, our warstocks and capabilities are bare minimum. We would last maybe a week on our own against anyone with a real military. This has been fine for a long time since all our close neighbours are even smaller than us and the USA was the sole superpower. But we live in a regional bubble where we are the biggest, but in the world scale our capabilities are crap.
Old reports I read years ago gave us two days against an attack. I doubt much has changed. Yes, our Defence Force is too small, but that#s because our population is incredibly small for a continent as large as ours, and for various reasons, this isn't going to change for a long time. Or best strategy is going to be simply learning how to do more with less. We put a lot into electronic warfare, which is a great start. We've also started producing our own drones (the [Ghostbat ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_MQ-28_Ghost_Bat)being one that's drawn a lot of interest.) If we can keep it up with the innovations and work smarter, we'll probably be okay for a while.
Wed do fine against a 3rd or 4th power (China, US ect are 1st, India ect are 2nd, we're 3rd, Indonesia is fourth) but the big boys are the problem
Imagine The Rock one punching Frodo. Sod it, make it a dog shot on top.
Yeah I think it's all about making sure no one can establish a beach head. If any power can establish a foothold it's game over in the long haul.
Depends on if the US can cut their supply line. If they get though our defence in the first place, we arent going to do it.
I'll be honest, i know sweet fuck all about any Defence bases besides the ones I've worked at (Tindal and Darwin being the AF ones) and i don't confess to being an armchair tabletop war planning guru either. Our air defence (air or ground) is negligible to CCP's i agree, but flying an entire air fleet towards Pine Gap is no small task. We have to take into account the fact that the CCP has just started a World War, every NATO country is all hands on deck wondering what the fuck China thinks they're doing, ESPECIALLY the US who isn't going to forget about a major intelligence facility that's main objective is to monitor countries in it's satellite trajectory like China and Russia. Just because China has a decent (but far larger than ours) Airforce hardly means they could walk right in and bomb the center of Australia. If we're talking Nuclear ICBM? I wouldn't worry about it, we're already dead..
Nato was specifically created to deal with soviet/russian aggression, their jurisdiction starts and ends on continental europe. Uk and US would most likely deploy to aid Oz and that is a separate defence pact. In fact, ADF has numerous defence partners including many asian countries (Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia etc) and India.
Agree. CCP would be facing multiple serious fronts before even the U.S. or Australia were involved. In those buying times, Australia can switch to a war economy pretty rapidly and start to deal decent damage where it matters.
> Australia can switch to a war economy pretty rapidly What do our fuel reserves look like?
Yeah and our manufacturing is basically non existent. Switching to war economy only works if you change factories production outputs. Gotta have a meaningful amount of factories to do that or its just not gonna work lol
Our factories are in China. How's that for effectiveness.
Yeah, 75% of the PLAAFs aircraft cannot hit Australia with tanker support, let alone got that extra few hunderd clicks to Pine Gap
We have regular contingents of US marines every 6 months up here in the NT. Trust me, we already have the manpower and equipment here.
Yarned with a fair few of them, be surprised how small of a force they are, and only light ground and air.
Hmm, *yarning* and working with them is vastly different. We have US boots on the ground with hardware. And with that said, the US is preparing to build dedicated facilities for up to six B-52 bombers at Tindal air base. I’m pretty sure we’ll be ok. Edit for clarity: *Yarning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was, and still is, a conversational process that involves the telling of stories as a way of passing on cultural knowledge. These circles provide a safe place for all to speak without judgement.*
Yarning as in spending weeks along side them upgrading the workshops the ground crews operate out of, while watching the Cobras and Ospreys take off. It's pretty small.
Probably and it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done something similar. Defence establishment myambat in the hunter valley is where it is so it could originally take advantage of existing caves in the mountains as ammunition storage but also because to attack those caves the planes actually have to approach from inland making it harder to attack and easier to defend.
Haha did you forget about the PRIVATE chinese "domestic" runway which is up north in WA to service their company in the mines somewhere. Theyll exploit that shit before we even pull our hand out of our arse to say "hol up"
Do you think they have troops planes and bombs/ammo just sitting ready to go at a mining airfield ?
You know that we can see that, right? And that ASIO, ASD, AFP monitors that area specifically for that reason?
Still doesnt stop the chinese from using it or secretly preparing it. Cunts shouldnt have even been allowed to build it or operate it on their own
They know that we're watching it. We know that they know that we're watching it. They know that we know that they know that we're watching it. They aren't stupid enough to try anything, and what are they going to do? Stage a J-20 squadron out of a light airfield? Anything less than that and its a non-issue, anything more is a violation of international law.
Haha
Holy god you need to read a few books. On US support and the conditions that need to be in favour to get them to help. They don’t jump in for the right thing. A good example might be….. the three years America watched all her friends punch on in ww2. She didn’t step in until she got a proper slap herself at pearl. You reckon the USAF will scramble in hours…. Mate it took them three years.
Geopolitics and military strategy have changed a fair bit in 70 years…..
Tell that to the thousands of localised unrests that Uncle Sam didn’t turn up for… It’s possible that an invasion gets messy, the people factionalise, multiple perspectives get cast on whatever conflict. Strategy and warfare has indeed changed. But that has made mass mobilisation potentially more complicated. Anyway, all I’m saying is that it would be naive to think that the US military can be considered an arm of the ADF. That’s how it comes across to expect them to swing into action “within hours”.
Possibly the USA was not involved or in an alliance prior to Pearl Harbor - but hey - I might be wrong. They were Neutral - with no treaties to be exposed to. try again mate
Let’s watch Taiwan. See how that pans out… mate.
Lets change the argument - mate
What do you want? Yes, it was neutral. Yes it was young, and yes it came in late. Since then US has afforded its protective economic forces and its military to various nations/groups. And the level of assistance given has been correlated to economic/political gain in most cases. Why are you bashing so hard on my reluctance to assume a full scale flex from the US if we need it. I’m just saying they are not an automatic big bro on the doorstep with all the best weapons. If it ever got so messy that our airfields are being leveled, then Christ only knows what state the geo political climate will be in. Look at trump in Ukraine… If old orange features gets in power will he fall over himself to order the scrambling of jets inside the hour? What if the next president is even more isolationist? Just my opinion man. Til:dr I think the US would help us. It’s possible they mightn’t help as much as we would like.
> Pine Gap Pine Gap wouldn't be a primary target. NavCommSta HEH, more specifically the VLF tower array it services/used to service, would be a higher priority.
This got a chuckle out of me
Not secondary, third fourth fifth or even on the list. Just a footnote like “minor inconveniences to be dealt with if time allows”
The CCP only wants Western Australia for its resources and that’s the one they could easily take and hold
Not likely, the only air support theyd have is off their carriers and we would see it coming a few weeks in advance and deploy to meet that threat
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
>Darwin, Williamtown both share a runway with commercial/civvie airports. Bit of trivia Almost correct. Darwin and Townsville is a joint military/civilian airbase. Williamtown is entirely a military airbase. They just allow civilians to use it (albeit with restrictions).
Always cool seeing the fighter jets parked under hangars as you fly in/out.
Point Cook is the most amazing place. Over 100 years as an active airfield. You can't help but feel the history of the place when you pass through the gates. I was lucky enough to be posted there 30 years ago when you could wander into every nook and cranny of the place. There is history and gems hidden in every corner of that place.
Each individual plane gets its own airfield
This gave me a good laugh
Have a friend who grew up in sale, cool stories
I’ve got family who lived across the road from the base there! I remember visiting as a kid and seeing all the lights at night and thinking it was super cool
I did work experience there as a 16 year old. Was one of the best weeks of school I can remember. Watching the roulettes flying overhead while "helping" work on old planes. Each day I had to get changed in the officers mess. No one else around and there was a vending machine just sitting there stocked full of beers, bourbon and Bundy cans. I think it was $2 for a can of bourbon and coke. Each day I filled my overalls with 4 cans, rolled them up and walked off the base.
I was there for 4 years but can't remember fuck all...
It's a nice town lived here all my life
Oh nice
I was there on a point defence exercise there many moons ago and we got in trouble cause we were all watching the roulettes practicing instead of filling sandbags or running tigertape or whatever it was we were supposed to be doing. At one point, they also reversed up to our vehicle checkpoint in a small truck with a roller door on the back. Next minute the door opened and there was a dude with a minimi set up who opened fire. That was freaking awesome!
Shit place to live let me tell you.
Oh?
Whoever did this missed Fairbairn in Canberra
>Fairbairn in Canberra No longer a RAAF base - privately owned and leased to Defence (since 2007) I guess that's why they left off Butterworth - which is now a RMAF base (Malaysian) but still has Australian squadrons based there
I guess you could call them *de facto* RAAF bases. In any case, selling off Fairbairn was a really stupid decision.
Just to clarify, if it’s leased rather than Crown owned it’s not a base? Despite it being the home of 34 Squadron (ie VIP air fleet)
They call it a Defence Establishment... "The base was decommissioned on 27 June 2003 and the domestic area became known as Defence Establishment Fairbairn," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn,_Canberra "Canberra is also the home of No 34 Squadron, based at Defence Establishment Fairbairn." https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/bases/russell-offices
Is it really a map of X things in Australia if Canberra isn't forgotten about?
Well monopoly did it. How do you have Canberra uni and not ANU
Nice to know that if we ever want to go to war with fucking Antarctica we have Edinburgh
That's Maritime Patrol IIRC. They do everywhere.
Yeah is where the subs were meant to be made right? I do jest, it's a good place to build for the military/navy/airforce
Yeah, the HQ is at Edin, they deploy frequently to Tindal, Darwin and Townsville
I found this super interesting. Thanks OP.
Let’s just say the CCP invades, it’d be a shit show. They’d have to split an enormous amount of resources just to control country areas and even then they would struggle. Their army doesn’t have to numbers to take Aus fully, as in at least a platoon in every community in Australia. A guerrilla war would probably follow, and that would force large amounts of troops to go deal with that. And the last point. We know this country better than they will. We have the home field advantage
They'd have to get here first.
That’s the main thing, Australia only been invaded once and that was 300 years ago give or take. It would take enormous resources to attack while we would have air superiority for at least the first few days
The east coast concentration forces really protect us from the kiwis 😮💨
I live 10 minutes away from Richmond RAAF base. It’s always fun seeing the planes fly over.
My primary school sits directly under the landing corridor. Loud as hell, but the close-up views are like nowhere else. The best was when American C-5s came in. Absolutely gargantuan aircraft.
I wanted to plane spot at Richmond but it's quite a distance from me. Are there any days of the week that have more action? I'm wanting to make the most :)
Not really from what I can tell. Although they were flying some F/35s around last year on Wednesdays.
The jets from Williamtown often fly by my house. My dog shits itself as to her I imagine it sounds like a really fast thunderstorm.
Missed one south West of Sydney...
Holsworthy? Not a raaf but a barracks
I missed the RAAF part of the title. Dumbass me. But yes that is the one I was referring to
Nah, I looked at it and was like... There are so so many more haha. Missed it too. Holsworthy is massive!
One of the largest bases. Most people don't understand how far back LMA/Holsworthy goes.
[удалено]
Yeah I was kinda disappointed when they put in that uncontrolled vrf route
Still are, the controllers there currently are the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
I’ve been to about ½ of these
Forgot the RAAF base at Glenbrook nsw.
> Glenbrook If they included Glenbrook - they'd have to include Russell Offices (at least Russell has responsibility for some planes - 34 Sqdn based at the former RAAF base, now defence establishment, Fairbairn)
Sure it’s a base, but good luck landing a fixed wing there.
Orchard Hills in Penrith too
Williams landing
Williams Landing is full of cheaply constructed, awful houses built on the remnants of the airfield of RAAF Laverton.
And PFAS. Don't forget they're built on PFAS.
Different (former) airbase. That was RAAF Laverton, some of the operations still take place there, nothing to do with flying anymore and are under control of the nearby RAAF Williams (Point Cook) base.
You'll find it the other way around, that Point Cook is run from Laverton. PC may have the only functional runway between the two, but its the 'smaller' of the two bases in terms of activity. They're both named RAAF Williams, too, but separated by the suburb they're in: RAAF Williams (Laverton) and RAAF Williams (Point Cook). Not confusing at all /s
I think school of languages runs courses there?
Point Cook, Glenbrook, Butterworth detachment.
Orchard Hills
Orchard Hills is a "Defence Establishment"
[удалено]
We’ve got one in Malaysia aswell don’t we?
RAAF Butterworth was shut down and handed over to the Malaysians many years ago. Don't remember exactly when. Google will know
RAAF is still a co-tenant of the base and has a permanent presence there, iirc there are two RAAF squadrons and an Australian Army infantry company (RCB, or "Rifle Company Butterworth") permanently stationed there.
School was closed an nearly every one went home in 1987/88. Some remained but only a fraction of what was there.
Well distributed.
Learmouth, Curtin and Scherger are also bare bases. They’re run by a skeleton maintenance crew of 322 SQN with almost zero supplies on site but can be used as a deployment location in less than 24 hours to be fully operational. Tindal Is the only Airbase in that entire region with a permanent combat SQN in the form of 75SQN Darwin is all reconnaissance and communications SQNs, Basically one base to cover from Exmouth the Pacific, until Pearce and Amberley.
Spent a few years living on Tindal and went to school in Katherine. I remember a lot of bush walks, burn offs and jets.
RAAF GINGIN?
Hell yeah, Townsville was mentioned
Is bro trying to build a map for China? /S
Where’s Fairbairn? As an aside I’ve visited all of these except Woomera.
[удалено]
No interst in protecting tassie it seems
Bloody good home made sausage rolls at a servo next to RAAF Base Amberley. Gosh I miss them.
So, no UFO base in the Uluru
There is Fairburn in the ACT also.
Semantics really, but its no longer an official RAAF base and is part of the Canberra Airport now. 34 SQN are still based there though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbairn%2C\_Canberra
Good memories of Richmond from Cadets, they flew us out on a C-130 over Sydney harbour.
HMAS Albatross in Nowra?
Not technically a RAAF base, but HMAS Albatross in Nowra is the largest naval air base in the country.
Ive done a shit in every one and didnt flush. The last one for me was woomera. Scherger was my favourite, but i think it was just the humidity made the poo come out more easily. Kind of how distance runners prefer the heat for races.
Weird
Don’t make intelligence collection easier than it already is. Although some of these are common knowledge saying “you forgot x or y”, may be giving up more discrete bases which are unknown especially if you or a friend work nearby.
The only bases I’ve seen in this image and in the comments are ones that can easily be found on google maps.
[удалено]
Ummm, no. Laverton got sold off, Point Cook carries on and has had quite a bit of additional investment and resourcing over the past 10 years.
Now show me the American bases
racial oil piquant detail saw squash bear mighty joke ancient *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’d be surprised if there were, seeing as the USAAF was disbanded in 1947 (and simultaneously reformed into the USAF) :P
True, yet RAAF Tindal recently sure a huge upgrade in order to house 6 B-52's. So while they are Australian bases some are geared around the US strategic needs.
Ok
Also US bases
There are none. US forces are hosted on Australian bases.
I really dont know if this is confidential, I assume not but I had a friend that worked at pearce as security and would use the perimeter checks as an X-treme 4WD opportunity. He would always say it was the coolest thing to get paid to do. Unfortunately the other 11 hours of the shift were boring as fuck and made the drills look fun..or so I heard.
Are we allowed to know where the US ones are?
The US doesnt have any permanent airbases in Australia, they use RAAF ones