Longreach Airport is situated in

Longreach Longreach is a town and a locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisford ...

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 ...

, Australia. The airport is northeast of the city. The

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

has one of its nine Queensland bases at Longreach Airport.

History

Longreach has played a major part in Australian aviation from 1919 onwards. In August of that year, a small party left the town to travel overland to survey a route suitable for competitors in the first air race to leave

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

en route to Australia. The travellers included Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, two pilots who had both been trained in the

Australian Flying Corps The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was the branch of the Australian Army responsible for operating aircraft during World War I, and the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The AFC was established in 1912, though it was not until ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In December 1919, a

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" ...

landed, piloted by Ross and Keith Smith, who were en route to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

after completing the first England to Australia flight. They were the first to use the air route pioneered by Fysh and McGinness. The first overland flight across the Australian continent from

to Darwin passed through the airport in 1919. This flight was undertaken by Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur Murphy, flying a

B.E.2 The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establish ...

. In 1920, the first single engine aircraft to complete the flight from England to Australia arrived. The aircraft was an Airco DH.9, piloted by Ray Parer and John McIntosh. In late 1920, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service was founded. Although founded in Winton, the first operational base for the airline, later to be known as QANTAS, was Longreach. Principal among the pioneers of the airline were Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, who had seen the opportunities aviation had presented to remote Australia during their survey the previous year. One of the original Qantas hangars survives at the airport to this day.

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

arrived in 1927, during a flight around the continent. His aircraft on this occasion was a Bristol Tourer.

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records du ...

landed her

de Havilland Gipsy Moth The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Development The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...

, registered G-AAAH, at the airport in 1930. She was the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

at the Imperial Hotel in Longreach. Johnson had just completed the first flight by a woman from England to Australia, and was continuing to the east coast. In 1941, the

Department of Civil Aviation A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

established the Longreach Aeradio station at the airport. This unit enabled air ground communication with the increasing number of radio equipped aircraft operating throughout the country. B-17e-41-2034-longreach-june-1942

During

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 ...

, Longreach airport became, for a short time in 1942, a base for

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 ...

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bomber aircraft of the

28th 28 (twenty-eight) is the natural number following 27 and preceding 29. In mathematics It is a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14. Twenty-eight is the second perfect number - it is the sum of its proper diviso ...

and 93d Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy). The airport was upgraded to cater for the additional weight of these aircraft. In May, these aircraft were flown from the town to engage the enemy in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Used shell casings from the guns of these aircraft can still be found adjacent to the runways. By this stage, the airport had three operational runways. At one time in the 1960s, Longreach airport was one of the busiest inland airports in Australia. However, with drought and the general downturn of the

rural economy Rural economics is the study of rural economies. Rural economies include both agricultural and non-agricultural industries, so rural economics has broader concerns than agricultural economics which focus more on food systems. Rural developmen ...

throughout the country, air traffic declined. In 1990, the Department of Aviation closed the Longreach Flight Service Unit, the descendant of the Aeradio station opened in 1941. The airport was transferred to the ownership of the Longreach Shire Council shortly thereafter. Qantas Boeing 707 and Boeing 747-200 at Longreach's Qantas Founders Outback Museum

Qantas Boeing 707 and Boeing 747-200 at Longreach's Qantas Founders Outback Museum

In 2002, Qantas returned to the town, with a Boeing 747-238B aircraft, registered VH-EBQ and named City of Bunbury, flown into the town for static display at the

Qantas Founders Outback Museum The Qantas Founders Outback Museum is a museum located in Longreach, Queensland, Australia. The museum was opened on 9 June 1996 in the heritage-listed Qantas Hangar, built by Qantas in 1922. Stage 2 of the Qantas Founders Museum was part of a ...

, which is also sited at the airport. This was the last 747-200 delivered to Qantas and is sitting with the first Boeing 707 for Qantas VH-EBA.Qantas Founders Outback Museum
In 2012, a new terminal was opened to comply with new security regulations. The new terminal features security screening facilities, and improved check in and arrival facilities, as well as increased parking facilities.

Airlines and destinations

References

{{authority control Airports in Queensland Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia Central West Queensland Longreach, Queensland Airports established in 1919 Queensland in World War II

History

Airlines and destinations

See also

References