What is YCUN used for at present ?
YCUN was built in haste during World War II as an elementary training school for ab initio pilots for the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).
At full strength in 1941, YCUN was home to 34 officers, 500 airmen and 51 aircraft.
Later in WW2 it was used as heavy bomber base for forays into the NEI, mostly with Liberators. All military activities at YCUN ceased in 1947.
After 1947 it was utilised as a temporary camp for migrants (displaced persons) from Europe (around 1000 migrants). This went on until 1957 when WW2 refugee intake slowed to a trickle, and the camp was no longer required.
The Commonwealth Govt of Australia then started to dismantle and sell off the many useable buildings around the aerodrome.
In 1959 the Gliding Club of W.A. moved into the aerodrome and made it the Club HQ, and gliding is still undertaken there on a regular basis.
In 1992 the Commonwealth Govt transferred ownership of YCUN to the local Shire of Cunderdin. The township of Cunderdin is only 3kms away from the aerodrome.
Cunderdin Shire has had a steadily declining population since 1933, when the population peaked around 2700 people.
The Shire population currently stands at about 1000 people in the Cunderdin townsite and the balance of about 400 scattered around farms and surrounding smaller towns such as Meckering.
Cunderdin has a thriving business population, and a modest number of light manufacturing industry businesses, mostly centred around rural clients and products.
Cunderdin Shire Council - Cunderdin Airfield
Gliding Club of W.A. - Cunderdin