Truscott Western Australia

[nsproles]

Truscott was a WWII base in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.  The RAAF flew B 24 Liberators from there over the (then) Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.  It was named after Squadron Leader Truscott, a WWII RAAF fighter ace who was killed in a training accident.  The photo shows how it was in the early 1970s.  Mounds of old 200 litre fuel drums were everywhere.  I landed there in a helicopter which was about the only way it could be accessed.  It has been re-developed since after the discovery of off-shore gas fields and minerals in its hinterland and is now known as Mungalalu-Truscott. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Great share, and good to see that these old fields can be redeveloped to the benefit of the local economies.

[jankees]

Very nice!

It reminds me a bit of the old Corunna Downs airfield near Marble Bar in WA. That too used to be a B-24 base, used by the USAAF and RAAF that is still around. I visited it often in the '90's when we were doing field in the area, and my wife even flew there with a C-47 for the Marble Bar centenery. I was jealous, but was in France at the time. It was fun going there and have this perfectly straight runway after endless kilometers of dirt roads.

Here's an old aerial photo: https://www.airhistory.net/photo/263436

 

and me landing a B-24 on it in MSFS:

 

I was there again two years ago, most of the old metal stuff that littered the area was gone, but the runways are still in reasonable shape, and the taxiways and revetments for the bombers are still visible, as you can see in MSFS as well

 

 

 

some background: https://www.exploroz.com/forum/117789/sunday-history-photo--wa

or here: https://caravan.hemax.com/Destination/13847/Hidden_in_the_WA_Outback

[Rupert]

Both posts are wonderful pieces of history!  Thanks so much!

 

Having said that, I can;t help but wonder what an ET long lens shot would think of these areas?  Or what people in another thousand or more more years, if there still are people then, will think of what they find there? 

[BillD22]

Really interesting stuff.  Thanks, Proles and JK!