Mount Druitt Aerodrome
in Whalan, AustraliaCategory: Attraction
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Whalan Reserve, Ellsworth Dr, Whalan NSW 2770, Australia Print route »
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Mount Druitt Aerodrome was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) landing ground during World War II at Mount Druitt, New South Wales, Australia.
Land was commandeered in March 1942, for the construction of an aerodrome, two aircraft hangars and workshops on the site.
The aerodrome was utilised for a period of time, after World War II, as a storage facility (bomb dump) for United States Army Air Forces and 10,000 500lb general purpose aerial bombs were placed upon the landing strip.
The runway ran down the center of the current Whalan Reserve in a roughly North-South (NNW-SSE) direction. After the war the fledgling Australian Racing Drivers Club ran races there (1951-53) at the Mt Druitt race track which incorporated part of the runway and taxi ways.
The land was not handed back to its owner until January 1951.
Only a part of the land was handed back to the owner which is why the racing ended in 1956 when the club was preparing to bid for the fledgling F1 championship race to be held in Australia. Argument over land ownership and the right to hold the F1 race meeting ended when the owner of part of the track dug huge tranches in the track, 2 metres deep, this ended the life of this race track. The F! race being held in Southport and eventually moving to Warwick Farm, then Adelaide and now Melbourne.
