Charleville barely registers a blip on Australia’s wartime radar, but the outback town was home to a secret WWII base that hosted 3500 US airmen.
In remote outback Queensland there’s a top-secret World War II air force base you won’t see on this year’s rolling Anzac Day coverage. Despite playing host to 3500 US airmen and hiding a classified military device used in the bombing of Hiroshima, Charleville barely registers a blip on Australia’s wartime radar.
When war broke out, Charleville already had a strong aviation reputation. The pastoral town, 745 kilometres west of Brisbane, was a regular refuelling stop for planes crossing the continent. It had hosted world-famous aviators and in 1922, welcome the first Qantas passenger service, from Charleville to Cloncurry.
. The interactive museum charts Charleville’s strategic role in the war, and the US spending $1.4 million to build a covert base. The mission was so secret, troops were told they were being deployed to Hawaii. Imagine their shock when they arrived in outback mulga country, where the only saltwater comes from the beads on your forehead., exploring the remains of the 101 buildings built during the war.
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