Set alongside a dramatic rocky ironstone ridge, the heavily camouflaged and carefully hidden No 73 Operational Base Unit was known as Corunna Downs – the name of the still active cattle station on which the base was located.

These days the airbase has been excised from the Corunna Downs Station so visitors can now visit this site quite freely without needing permission.

Built to handle the heaviest four-engine bombers of the day, the long runways still remain, and have recently been graded and cleared of the old cracked and parched bitumen surface and the encroaching spinifex and desert foliage.

A gun pit near the east-west runway

The main runways (east/west and north/south), measuring 2300 metres and 1650 metres and each 50 metres wide, can these days now be driven on without fear of encountering huge bombers landing or taking off. It is quite a sobering experience to drive where these aircraft once operated. There was also some 6kms of taxi ways, some of which have also been cleaned up and are also readily accessible.

This is harsh, unforgiving country with nearby Marble Bar recognised as Australia’s hottest town and is certainly not a great place to be working year-round in the pressure conditions of a WWII air base. It is reported that servicemen, mostly living at the base in four-man tents without any form of air conditioning or refrigeration, were also tormented by flies, scorpions and snakes.

Bomb casing dump site

Today, a visit to this lonely centre in our modern airconditioned vehicles is a much more enjoyable, but somewhat eerie experience with the piercing call of an occasional crow the only noise that disturbs the vast  silence. In this remote place things were not always so deathly quiet. There was a regular roar as the four x 1200 horsepower engines of the long-range B-24 Liberator bombers wheeled at the end of the runway and paused before commencing their take-off run heavily laden with bombs to pound the Japanese bases on Java, Borneo, Celebes, Singapore and other island targets to the north of the Australian coastline. In its time it was quite a noisy, bustling place to be. In today’s peaceful serenity, visitors can  only imagine the activity all those years ago.

Comet Mine near Marble Bar

CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS

In this remote country where once stood the many camouflaged buildings required for the administration and operation of this little-known but major air base, only a few crumbling concrete foundations can now be seen, including the air crew quarters, kitchen mess, canteen, store, hospital, ablutions, workshops and picture gardens. Sadly, many of these scant remains are progressively being overgrown with spinifex and other vegetation. The remains of an old windsock pole still stands defiantly near the old runways and the earth-formed aircraft bunkers, once covered with camouflage netting and spinifex to hide the planes, can still be seen scattered across the base. Each of the 20 or so horseshoe shaped bunkers housed one of  the giant bombers which were carefully tucked away after each flight where maintenance, refuelling and re-arming was carried out. It is interesting to see how the bunkers (or revetments) were spread far enough apart to minimise damage to the aircraft if the base was ever bombed. Camping out here in one of these long-abandoned aircraft bunkers, which we did on our recent visit, was indeed quite an eerie experience as we tried to imagine the scene here all those years ago. Right where we were enjoying happy hour, one of those huge bombers was hidden away and being prepared for its next important flight.

Our camp in one of the aircraft bunkers

Elsewhere around the old base can be seen several antiaircraft gun pits, small piles of rusting fuel drums, ammunition containers, bomb holders and many other wartime scraps. It is believed that all old live  ammunition has now been cleared away, but visitors should be careful they don’t stumble over any that has been missed. After all this time such live rounds would be very unstable and very dangerous.

There is also a lonely grave at the foot of the nearby ironstone hillside with a small plaque identifying it as the final resting place of RAAF Sergeant Ernest Newton Cook (46603) who was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident on route to nearby Marble Bar on 5 December 1944. His grave is at the site of the picture gardens which he operated for the enjoyment of all who worked on the base.

The hospital site

WARTIME ACTIVITY

It was between 1943 and 1945 that bombing mission activity from Corunna hit its peak. On this now empty and almost forgotten ironstone countryside, Australian and American Air Force units (the 30th bomber  Group of the US Air Force and No 25 Squadron of the RAAF) blasted the Japanese bases that threatened Australia from the north as well as hammering the enemy shipping which was so vital to Japanese supplies and troop movements.

Although bombers could reach Japanese targets from other northern bases around Darwin, such flying took aircraft over a number of islands which had been taken over by the Japanese. The base at Corunna Downs gave aircraft the advantage of surprise, approaching their targets from over the sea. It had always been feared that the returning bombers may have been followed and the location of the base discovered, but this was apparently never attempted.

Information sign at the base entrance

During the war no mention was ever made of these highly secret operations in press or radio reports and  every effort was made to keep from the Japanese any knowledge that Corunna Downs airfield existed. Japanese reconnaissance aircraft however, searched extensively over northern WA for a base which they knew must be somewhere, but their continual scouring always ended in failure. It is even reported that, on one occasion, one of their long-range reconnaissance planes jettisoned one of its long-range fuel tanks quite near the base (presumably to lighten its load), but still never saw or identified the airfield.

The Corunna base was officially closed on 14 January 1946.

Even today the importance of the base and the part it played in the latter phases of the war has received little publicity and is largely unknown, even to the many tourists who pass through the nearby centre of Marble Bar each year.

With its historic war time secret now being slowly uncovered, a visit to Corunna Downs is, indeed, an enlightening and enjoyable experience.

The kitchen mess site

LIFE AT CORUNNA DOWNS

The working life of airmen on the base back in the 1940s was indeed harsh – sometimes in temperatures of around 50°C. At any one time some 300 men were based there in very trying conditions with minimal facilities, including no air-conditioning or refrigeration. Rations mainly consisted of tinned vegetables and cans of bully beef.

The water supply from a brackish bore was so hot that showers were impossible until the pipes cooled down about 9pm. Their four-man tents were very basic and particularly uncomfortable in the heavy rains of the annual wet season in the region. Their only real respite from the conditions was an occasional leave visit to the amenities available in nearby Marble Bar and the introduction of an open-air picture show at the base in 1944. Morale however, remained high as the airmen realised the important contribution they were making to the war effort from their proudly secret but very successfully operated air base. 

The Australian Army was also very much in evidence at the Corunna Downs base during the war, providing most of the supply transport as well as their involvement with light and heavy anti-aircraft guns strategically located around the airfield. Some of the gun pits can still be seen today.

Visitors examine the rusting relics

Getting there

The signposted access road (Corunna Downs Station Road) to the old Corunna Downs Air Base (36km from Marble Bar) is all gravel, usually in quite good condition (except after rain) and can be travelled with care in conventional 2WD vehicles. Along the way there are a number of small creek crossings which are usually dry during winter months (May to August), which is the best time to travel away from the hot and wet months of the year.

Campervans and offroad caravans are also okay if driven carefully to the conditions. Camping is allowed, but there are no facilities provided. Take all rubbish away with you and use a chemical toilet. Dogs would be okay if kept on a lead. A dump point and drinking water is available in Marble Bar. Alternatively use Marble Bar as a base and make a day trip out to the air base. No permits or other approvals are required. Caravan Park facilities are available in Marble Bar.

Check with the Marble Bar Visitor Information Centre for an information brochure and for road conditions and any access restrictions at the time before heading out to the old base. Allow approximately one hour travelling each way from Marble Bar.

Category: Destinations
Written: Sat 01 Oct 2022
Printed: October, 2022
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