RAAF Base Learmonth

RAAF Base Learmonth
RAAF Base Learmonth
Near Exmouth, Western Australia in Australia
	RAAF Learmonth; YPLM Location in Western Australia
Coordinates	22°14′09″S 114°05′19″E / 22.23583°S 114.08861°ECoordinates: 22°14′09″S 114°05′19″E / 22.23583°S 114.08861°E
Type	Military air base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defence
Operator	Royal Australian Air Force
Website	RAAF Base Learmonth
Site history
In use	circa 1950s – present
Garrison information
Occupants	'Bare base'
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: LEA, ICAO: YPLM
Elevation	6 metres (19 ft) AMSL
Runways
18/36	3,047 metres (9,997 ft) Asphalt/Concrete
	Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart
Commonwealth Heritage List
Official name	Learmonth Air Weapons Range Facility
Type	Listed place (Historic)
Designated	22 June 2004
Reference no.	105551

RAAF Base Learmonth, also known as Learmonth Airport (IATA: LEA, ICAO: YPLM), is a joint use Royal Australian Air Force base and civil airport. It is located near the town of Exmouth on the north-west coast of Western Australia. RAAF Base Learmonth is one of the RAAF's three bare bases. No RAAF units are currently based at Learmonth and it is maintained by a small caretaker staff during peacetime.

The RAAF also operates the Learmonth Air Weapons Range which covers about 18,954 ha (46,840 acres) and is located 30 km (19 mi) south-west of the airbase.^[2]

History[]

During World War II a little-known landing field was constructed on the western shore of Exmouth Gulf. It was code-named "Potshot" and maintained by No. 76 Operational Base Unit. In the 1950s the landing field was further developed as a military base and named RAAF Learmonth in honour of Wing Commander Charles Learmonth DFC and Bar, who, while leading No. 14 Squadron, was killed in a flying accident off Rottnest Island, Western Australia on 6 January 1944.^[3]

Starting in June 1944, Qantas used Learmonth as an intermediate stop for two converted Consolidated Liberator bombers that flew a segment of the vital England–Australia air route, supplementing modified Consolidated PBY Catalinas flying The Double Sunrise route to Ceylon. The Liberators flew a shorter 4,952-kilometre (3,077 mi) over-water route from Learmonth to an airfield northeast of Colombo, and could make the journey in 17 hours with 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) of payload, whereas the Catalinas usually required at least 27 hours and had to carry so much auxiliary fuel that their payload was limited to only 450 kilograms (1,000 lb). The route was named Kangaroo Service and marked the first time that Qantas's now-famous kangaroo logo was used; passengers received a certificate proclaiming them as members of The Order of the Longest Hop.^[4] Qantas also used the base during the emergency landing of Qantas Flight 72.

In the mid-1960s, the Federal Government gave its support to plans by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Val Hancock, to redevelop Learmonth as a bare base, due to its proximity to Indonesia. Though F-111Cs could have made a round-trip to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, from RAAF Base Darwin, the route they took would have been very much limited by range. Learmonth's relative proximity added flexibility to the routes in and out, enhancing the likelihood of a successful strike.^[5] The major work was undertaken by No. 5 Airfield Construction Squadron between 1971 and 1973.^[6]

References[]

^ YPLM – Learmonth (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 25 Mar 2021, Aeronautical Chart Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Learmonth Air Weapons Range Facility, Learmonth". Commonwealth heritage places in Western Australia. Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Government. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
^ Baker, H. W.; Atkinson, Basil (18 January 1954). "A Valiant Deed Off Rottnest Gave Learmonth Its Name". The West Australian. National Library of Australia. p. 3. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
^ "Thirty Years of Qantas". Flight. Vol. LVIII no. 2182. London. 16 November 1950. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
^ Kopp, Carlo (May 2003). "Three decades of the F-111" (PDF). DefenceTODAY. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2012.
^ Stephens, Alan (2006) [2001]. The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–286. ISBN 0-19-555541-4.

External links[]

RAAF Base Learmonth at airforce.gov.au
Learmonth at RAAF Museum
Learmonth RAAF Base in WA (image). ABC News. Australia. 15 January 2014.

[AIP-1] YPLM – Learmonth (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 25 Mar 2021, Aeronautical Chart Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[2] "Learmonth Air Weapons Range Facility, Learmonth". Commonwealth heritage places in Western Australia. Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Government. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

[3] Baker, H. W.; Atkinson, Basil (18 January 1954). "A Valiant Deed Off Rottnest Gave Learmonth Its Name". The West Australian. National Library of Australia. p. 3. Retrieved 2 November 2011.

[flight1950-4] "Thirty Years of Qantas". Flight. Vol. LVIII no. 2182. London. 16 November 1950. Retrieved 6 April 2018.

[5] Kopp, Carlo (May 2003). "Three decades of the F-111" (PDF). DefenceTODAY. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2012.

[Stephens_pp.283-284-6] Stephens, Alan (2006) [2001]. The Royal Australian Air Force: A History. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–286. ISBN 0-19-555541-4.

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show v t Royal Australian Air Force bases
Current bases including bare bases	Amberley Darwin East Sale Edinburgh Gingin Glenbrook Pearce Richmond Tindal Townsville Wagga Williams Williamtown Woomera Range Complex including Woomera Base Curtin Learmonth Scherger
Former bases	Albion Park Archerfield Bairnsdale Bowen Bundaberg Cairns Camden Coffs Harbour Cunderdin Daly Waters Deniliquin Evans Head Fairbairn Gove Guildford Horn Island Jervis Bay Mallala Mascot Moruya Mildura Nabiac Narrandera Narromine Nowra Oakey Parafield Pokolbin Rathmines Parkes Sandgate Schofields Temora Tengah (Singapore) Tocumwal Ubon (Thailand) Uranquinty West Sale Western Junction
Overseas bases	Butterworth (Malaysia) (Cocos (Keeling) Islands) (Papua New Guinea)
Shared bases	Defence Establishment Orchard Hills
Flying boat bases	Lake Boga Rathmines
Other facilities	Delamere Air Weapons Range
RAAFs Curtin, Learmonth and Scherger are so-called "bare bases"

show v t Airports in Australia
Australian Capital Territory	Canberra
New South Wales	Albury Armidale Ballina Bathurst Broken Hill Cobar Coffs Harbour Cooma Dubbo Grafton Griffith Lismore Lord Howe Island Merimbula Moree Moruya Mudgee Narrabri Narrandera Newcastle Orange Parkes Port Macquarie Sydney Tamworth Taree Wagga Wagga
Northern Territory	Alice Springs Ayers Rock Darwin Elcho Island Lake Evella Groote Eylandt Hooker Creek Maningrida McArthur River Mine Milingimbi Gove Ramingining Tennant Creek Tindal Victoria River Downs
Queensland	Aurukun Badu Island Bamaga (Northern Peninsula) Barcaldine Bedourie Birdsville Blackall Blackwater Boigu Island Boulia Brisbane Bundaberg Burketown Cairns Charleville Chinchilla Cloncurry Coconut Island Coen Cooktown Cunnamulla Darnley Island Dirranbandi Doomadgee Emerald Gladstone Gold Coast Great Barrier Reef (Hamilton Island) Hervey Bay Horn Island Hughenden Julia Creek Karumba Kowanyama Kubin (Moa Island) Lizard Island Lockhart River Longreach Mabuiag Island Mackay Moranbah Mornington Island Mount Isa Murray Island Normanton Palm Island Quilpie Redcliffe Richmond Rockhampton Roma Saibai Island St George Springvale Sunshine Coast Thangool Thargomindah Toowoomba (City) Toowoomba (Wellcamp) Townsville Warraber Island Weipa Whitsunday Coast Windorah Winton Yam Island Yorke Island
South Australia	Adelaide Ceduna Coober Pedy Kingscote Mount Gambier Olympic Dam Port Augusta Port Lincoln Prominent Hill Whyalla
Tasmania	Burnie Devonport Flinders Island Hobart King Island Launceston
Victoria	Avalon Bendigo Essendon Hamilton Melbourne Mildura Moorabbin Mount Hotham Portland Warrnambool
Western Australia	Albany Argyle Broome Busselton Carnarvon Derby Esperance Fitzroy Crossing Geraldton Halls Creek Jandakot Kalbarri Kalgoorlie Karratha Kununurra Lake Gregory Laverton Learmonth Leinster Leonora Meekatharra Mount Magnet Newman Paraburdoo Perth Port Hedland Ravensthorpe Shark Bay Springvale Wiluna
External territories	Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Norfolk Island Wilkins
This lists airports in Australia with scheduled passenger services. Airports with scheduled international services are bolded. Statistics

show v t Airports in Western Australia
Public airports	Albany Balgo Hill Broome Bunbury Busselton Carnarvon Christmas Creek Cue Cunderdin Derby Esperance Eucla Fitzroy Crossing Forrest Geraldton Halls Creek Jandakot Jurien Bay Kalbarri Kalgoorlie-Boulder Karratha Katanning Kununurra Lake Gregory Laverton Learmonth Leinster Leonora Manjimup Margaret River Meekatharra Morawa Mount Magnet Mullewa Newman Norseman Onslow Paraburdoo Perth Port Hedland Ravensthorpe Rottnest Island Shark Bay Springvale Tom Price Warburton Wiluna Wyndham
Private airports	Argyle Argyle Downs Barimunya Barrow Island Bellevue Boolgeeda Brockman Bronzewing Coolawanyah Station Coondewanna Darlot Forrestania Fortescue Dave Forrest Golden Grove Graeme Rowley Granny Smith Jundee Kambalda Karara Lake Johnston Lawlers Mount Keith Mungalalu Truscott Murrayfield Murrin Murrin Nifty Plutonic Serpentine Shay Gap Solomon Southern Cross Sunrise Dam Telfer Troughton Island Windarling Woodie Woodie
Military airports	Curtin Gingin Learmonth Pearce Stirling
Defunct airports	Caversham Corunna Downs Maylands Mooliabeenee
Related	New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Territories of Australia
Airports in bold have scheduled service

RAAF Base Learmonth

Contents

History[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]