RAAF Base Williamtown is a

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

(RAAF)

military air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

located north of

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

( by road) in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of Port Stephens, in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. The base serves as the headquarters to both the Air Combat Group and the Surveillance and Response Group of the RAAF. The nearest towns are

Raymond Terrace Raymond Terrace, locally known as "Raymo” or "The Terrace", is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle on the Pacific Highway, Australia, Pacific Highway. Establi ...

, located west of the base and Medowie, , north of the base, which is home to many of the base's staff. The base operates a single runway which is shared with the Newcastle Airport under a lease agreement where the Department of Defence leases rights to use the runway to Williamtown Airport. 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 Commonwealt ...

History

RAAF Station Williamtown was established on 15 February 1941 to provide protection for the strategic port and steel manufacturing facilities in

. The base originally had 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), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...

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 R ...

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 ...

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.

Base Activity

RAAF Williamtown employed approximately 3,500 personnel, including military, civilians and contractors, and generated $150 million per annum by way of salaries in the Hunter Region economy. RAAF Williamtown has several aircraft operating within it, including Boeing E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft, F-35A Multirole Fighter, Hawk 127 Trainer, and PC-21 Trainer aircraft all operated by various squadrons. Williamtown formerly operated F/A-18 Hornets and Pilatus PC-9 Trainers. RAAF Base Williamtown has 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, a museum dedicated to Australian fighter aircraft. In 2014, the Australian Government announced that Williamtown would be the home base for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters; 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 allows fighters to take off without the use of their afterburners, minimising noise for local communities. Fifty-six of the seventy-two F35s will be based at Williamtown. 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 Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

in the area surrounding the base, with residents initiating a

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

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

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (also PFAS, PFASs, and informally referred to as "forever chemicals") are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain; there are 7 millio ...

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

Base Activity

Units

See also

References

External links