In late May 1942 RAAF and USAAF personnel conducted a ground survey of Iron Range, guided by the local miner Jack
Gordon. A flat area of dense coastal rainforest was chosen just east of the Claudie River, as this was the nearest suitable airfield site to existing harbour facilities at
Portland Roads- where a jetty had been built about 1938 to service goldfields in the area. The only alternative route to Iron Range for truck convoys was overland from
Townsville via
Chillagoe, the
Mitchell River, and
Coen a trip which took 10 days.
Iron Range Advanced Operational Base (AOB) was initially referred to by the Americans as '
Portland Roads', although
Portland Roads was in fact located 35 km north of the airfield. A radar unit (RAAF 43 Radar Station) and a coastal gun battery (east of the jetty site) were located at
Portland Roads during the war.
An advance party of the US 46th Engineers General Service Regiment left
Townsville by sea for
Portland Roads in early June 1942, accompanied by a Queensland Main Roads Commission (MRC) team. In addition, an advance party of RAAF No.26 Operational Base Unit (OBU) arrived at
Portland Roads on 10 June to establish wireless communication with
Townsville.
The US Engineer companies began operations by improving the road and
clearing a short landing strip (northwest of the later
Gordon Strip, located south of the
intersection of
Lockhart River Road and
Portland Road) for use by a DH-89 Dragon Rapide aircraft. On 12 July more units of the US 46th Engineers arrived equipped with bulldozers, graders and large trucks. After completing the
clearing of the 120 degree runway '
Gordon Strip' the engineers turned to
clearing aircraft taxiways and dispersal bays, and
clearing of the 160 degree runway 'Claudie Strip'. Work was rushed to make
Gordon Strip ready for use by USAAF medium bombers, and it was completed as an unsurfaced and unsealed runway by 18 August 1942.
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Top 2 photo's courtesy Peter Dunn's Oz@War website.
On 9 September ten B-26 Martin Marauder medium bombers of the 19th Bombardment Squadron (BS) of the 22nd Bombardment Group (BG), USAAF, arrived and two days later proceeded on the first operational bombing mission from Iron Range. A second squadron of B-26 Marauder bombers (33rd BS, 22nd BG) landed at Iron Range two weeks later. In late 1942 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the 43rd BG also commenced operations from
Gordon Strip and three squadrons of this Group (64th, 65th, and 403rd BS) flew from Iron Range until the last squadron of the Group left in late November 1942.
The airfield was initially protected by light anti-aircraft units, but a defence against high-flying Japanese aircraft arrived in October 1942 when eight 3.7-inch Quick Firing (QF) A.A MkII guns of the 36th Australian Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery (Static) were unloaded at
Portland Roads. The guns were transported to Iron Range where two gun stations were established almost 5 km apart, one north of
Gordon Strip and one west of Claudie Strip.
Both gun stations consisted of four 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns on static mounts within in-ground concrete gun emplacements of octagonal shape. The interior walls of each gun emplacement contained recesses where ready ammunition for each gun was stored on wooden racks (some racks still survive). The guns were arranged in an arc, and were co-ordinated from a reinforced concrete semi-underground Command Post (CP) in the centre of the arc. Within the CP were a roofed plotting room, plus open pits for a height finder and predictor, the latter being a mechanical computing machine that predicted the future position of a target. Nearby were four semi-underground magazines of reinforced concrete. Gun crews were housed in tents near the guns and a nearby
camp with kitchen, mess and ablution block was attached to each gun station. Construction of the gun stations by the MRC was delayed due to shortages of labour and the difficulty of obtaining transport for men and materials. However, construction was almost completed by early April 1943 when funds were allocated for camouflage of the gun stations.
Australian Civil Constructional Corps (CCC) workers were employed at Iron Range to assist the US Engineers with the construction and maintenance of the airfield. By early November 1942 a total of 48 gravel-surfaced dispersal bays had been formed; three
camp sites between the strips had been built for 400 men each and an earth
dam had been constructed on the river near the north end of Claudie Strip. Early November saw the commencement of bitumen sealing of Claudie Strip by the 46th Engineers, and the taxiways and dispersal bays were also sealed.
Gordon Strip, still only a gravel surface which required constant watering to control dust, became the only useable runway for several weeks while sealing of Claudie was underway.
The first squadron of B-24 Liberator heavy bombers of the 90th BG (with four squadrons) arrived at Iron Range in early November 1942, and by this time Iron Range had become congested. With Claudie Strip still being sealed the Marauder medium bombers of 22nd BG were sharing
Gordon Strip with the Liberators of 90th BG, while one squadron of Marauders continued to use Claudie. Aircraft were parked nose to runway both sides of
Gordon strip, where the rainforest was retained close to the edge of the strip for camouflage. The decision to operate heavy bombers, rather than just medium bombers, meant that wing-tip clearance was further reduced. The narrow strip, parked aircraft and dust led to an accident during a takeoff of the 90th BG during the night of 16-17 November 1942. One B-24 collided with parked aircraft and exploded, killing 11 men.
Note: This could be same accident mentioned in the book called "Savage Wilderness" which is about B-24 Little Eva that crashed West of
Burketown.
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In May 1943, due to concerns over the lack of construction progress, the Headquarters of USAFFE (
United States Army Forces in the Far East) took over responsibility for construction. The US Fifth Air Force had decided to build up Iron Range as a heavy bomber base and the
United States Army
Services of Supply (USASOS) requested that the AWC organise the sealing of
Gordon strip, and construction of 24 blast pens. A third
airstrip (New Claudie) was also requested, to replace the flood prone Claudie Strip, along with a further 10 blast pens. An AWC Works Requisition for the above projects was issued on 2 July 1943, and in August the USASOS also requested reconstruction of the road to
Portland Roads and two new
camp sites at Iron Range airfield- one north of the east end
Gordon Strip, and one south of the west end of
Gordon Strip. These were each constructed with 6 buildings plus latrines and bath houses.
Although
Gordon strip was sealed, the road was reconstructed and the two new camps were completed, the blast pens were cancelled, as was the sealing of New Claudie Strip. All work was cancelled on development of Iron Range as a heavy bomber base on 15 May 1944, and AWC plant and personnel were withdrawn during August 1944. The 3.7-inch HAA defences were withdrawn from Iron Range during June 1944.
From 30 June 1944 onwards, the RAAF assumed total command of the base. The Australian Air Board subsequently decided that the airfield was no longer required as an operational base, although it would be available for use by aircraft flying the coastal route to and from New Guinea. This decision necessitated the maintenance of only one runway and
Gordon Strip was chosen. With the lessening of activities at Iron Range, RAAF No.26 OBU was disbanded in December 1944 and a small operational base detachment of No.27 OBU became responsible for the maintenance of the airfield which functioned as an emergency landing ground for the remainder of the war. No.27 OBU was disbanded in April 1946.
After the war the RAAF leased
Gordon Strip from the State of Queensland, the airfield being held in the category 'retained but not maintained', with the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) in permissive occupancy. In March 1954 the lease was transferred from the RAAF to the DCA. In recent years
Gordon Strip has been upgraded as
Lockhart River Airport.
If anyone has some photo’s of old remains around Iron Range and would like to share you can email them to me dtilley5@bigpond.com
The text below is from Linda Phillips of Byron, Minesotta, USA, her Dad , Harry Boller was stationed there for a while until they all moved to Nadzab Airfields near Lae, PNG.
There's a guy somewhere in Queensland, I think, who wrote a book about Iron Range. He contacted me when he was writing the book because he saw some of my photos and thought they could have been taken at Iron Range. I haven't read the book, but I believe he used some of my photos in that book. (I gave him permission to use them).
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From what I understand, Iron Range was the hell-hole of the world back in 1942 when the 90th Bomb Group was first deployed there. Here are a couple of photos he figured might have been taken at Iron Range.
I'm sure they used those jeeps for many things. When first sent to Iron Range, there was absolutely nothing there to support a military contingent. They had to start from the very beginning. There was no drinkable water or any kind of structure. I remember Dad telling me that the war wasn't going
well at that point (August, 1942) either. Life was difficult and bombing missions were hit or miss, planes crashed, men died, living conditions were ghastly. I think eventually, things got a little better there, but the 90th was eventually moved to New Guinea. I think Dad's squadron (319th) was one of the last ones to move.
Thank you Linda for the photo's and the Info.
.