United States Army Air Force & Australian ServicemenPrint Page

The plaque commemorates United States Army Air Force and Australian servicemen who died in service or were killed in action in World War Two.  

Charleville was used as a secret air base during World War Two, and the work of enlarging the existing civil aerodrome at Charleville was requested by the Department of Civil Aviation in November 1941. The work was undertaken by the Main Roads Commission. Early in 1942, after the Japanese invasion of the Pacific, Charleville aerodrome became the terminal for the Pacific ferry route over which heavy bomber aircraft were flown from the US to the South-West Pacific Area.

The remote airfield provided a safe haven for storage of valuable aircraft, the dry climate helping to minimise corrosion. Reception, storage and maintenance of US aircraft was the intended wartime role for Charleville aerodrome. The first B-17 bombers began arriving during April 1942. Construction of new runways, dispersal taxiways and four large hangars was completed by July, when the US 45th Air Base Group took control. A fifth hangar was completed by January 1943. However, by then US maintenance operations at Charleville were scaling down. In August 1943 four hangars were dismantled and removed to Eagle Farm aerodrome, Brisbane, for use by the US Air Service Command. The historic Qantas hangar-which was also used by the Americans-survived the war and was later used by Trans-Australia Airlines. The site is now used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

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