Dora-9,

Thanks for expanding my knowledge of Aussie slang. ;)

Furphy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TD:

Correct ID of both aircraft and owner unit -not Fenton though (which was a much more heavily timbered location), nor is it Garbutt.

On the basis that "a fast game is a good game", here's another clue (different location on the same airfield, almost two years later):

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...psd6ad5082.gif

That escarpment to the East makes me think it could be Adelaide or Perth. However as the black swan is a Western Australia icon it could be a significant clue, so I'll go for Perth.
(It is only 1600 nm from their main base in the NT, but in 1945 I guess their navigation wasn't all that great). :E

Wild guess - Corunna Downs in the Pilbara ?

just a guess. Gawler in South Australia.

LFH has it! Well done, that man - it is Corunna Downs, Australia's "secret air base". Over to you!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...pse2ced8de.jpg

That distinct ridge is immediately south of the main runway - the domestic site lay immediately to the west of this.

Also Terry D - the black swan indicated 25 (City of Perth) Squadron - the connection is obvious - who were based at Cunderdin, east of the Perth, and not in the NT. The remainder of the RAAF force, 82 Wing, comprising 21, 23 & 24 Sqns, were based in the NT. All these units, plus earlier the USAAF's 380th BG, used Corunna to stage through to attack targets in Java. History waffle ends....

What a desolate place!
No wonder it was a "secret" airfield.
http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...um/8860200.jpg
Thanks for the incentive to embark on a great history lesson.
(Just finished looking up the details of when the later version nose turrets were fitted to the B-24 as in the second photo).

Yes, and it was 15 miles from Marble Bar, statistically the hottest town in Australia. What a great place to be posted!

I flew into here regularly in the late 1960's, despite being closed in 1945 it was then quite well preserved. The revetments were impressively huge and in a much better state than they are now - then they still looked exactly like the three you can see in the background to my 25 Sqn photo....

There is another airfield at Noonkanbah (then called Nookanbah), ESE from Derby, with similarly enormous revetments (positioned even further away from the airfield) obviously intended for the same purpose, although it doesn't seem to have seen much use in fact.

Thanks Chaps for eliminating all the obvious airfields. Interesting to see how many of these obscure places got bombed - in addition to the well known raids such as on Darwin and Broome. No wonder they staged through. Apparently the livestock got strafed on occasion too - mistaken for troops in the open.

Here's the next - LFH

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1380009917

LFH, I think that Corunna was never located by the Japanese - however there was a nocturnal raid by a "Mavis" on Anna Plains (on the coast south of Broome), it's thought that while the Japanese were aware of a large staging airfield somewhere in the Pilbara, they located and subsequently attacked the prominent airfield at Anna Plains in error.

Yes. It appears that the Japanese never found the place.
When I was searching for "Corunna Downs" to find out where the hell it was, I came across an entry that seemed to imply that the only casualty there was some poor sod who was killed when he fell off a truck when they were all leaving.

Clue: It's not Australia. ;). LFH

LFH - a ranging shot. Germany?

A lot warmer and a lot further East than Germany, Dora.

Looks like I'm flogging a dead duck here. SE Asia - ca 1948. LFH

San bay Gia Lam, Ha Noi, Vietnam

C2j

Not Hanoi Cubs - but you're in the right territory - (then and now - but not in between) LFH

As I am a newcomer to this thread, can someone explain to me what strategy I should use in locating the current challenge.

I came in on the previous B-24 challenge because there were several clues in that photo.
B-24 & nose art = aircraft and squadron = unit history. Date clue = operational area. Background terrain = possible locations etc.

The current challenge is such low resolution that there is not much detail to work with. There is an airfield and some buildings, some trees, a river and a road. That eliminates places in the desert or snow, but that is about all.

I can nail the location in 30 seconds using Google images, but that method seems to be frowned upon. :=

Help.

Welcome to the thread, Terry. More and more participants are now aware of GI and try to post pictures not already on the web, or obfuscate ones that are.

What is really "frowned on" by most here, is a technique employed by some posters of immediately going to GI and then posting a series of questions, giving the appearance of clever research, while narrowing down the choices to the "correct answer". What's the point?

The only time I look at GI in connection with these threads, is to check an image I want to post.

Thanks India Four Two.

I liked the idea of some details in the photo giving clues to research.
With the B-24 challenge I learned something about:

• The 380Th BG operations in Australia
• How to fly the B-24 and operate a Norden bombsight
• Some history of RAAF 25 squadron

Then about the "secret" Corunna Downs airfield in Western Australia

There are good recent hi-res photos of Corunna Downs here
and some rare photos when the base was operational
This all made a great little history lesson that I thoroughly enjoyed.
In contrast, using Google images or the "I guess a country" then "I guess a place" and "no - a bit further east etc," shotgun approach does not appeal so much.

However, sometimes other poster's guesses help me zero-in on a geographic area, that perhaps hadn't occurred to me.

LFH's most recent cryptic comment seems to indicate this airfield is "in my back yard" but I still cannot think of a likely location.

Good sleuthing TD! Thanks for posting the links.

Looking at those recent hi-res photos makes me realize just how much the revetments have deteriorated in the 45 years (gulp) since I was there.

Good morning Terry and Ifor. (And Dora.) I agree with all your remarks including about the low res. I did check the pic against GI and it came out nil, so considering its history, I was quite pleased with it. I tried GI again after Terry's remarks and now see that there's not a lot escapes the magic eye if you persevere. I haven't time or skill for "obfuscation" and suitable non-internet photos (such as personal or book sourced) are few and far. A lot of the good book stuff finds its way onto the net anyway.

- and then say "Open House" rather too often .....


What we are currently discussing has given rise to a bit of mild aggro here in the last year or so. I am not sure if I have any suggestions. I'm off for a couple of days so I shall probably have to terminate this challenge in a couple of hours anyway. LFH


PS see three more posts since I started drafting this - -


.... ;)

OK - shan't be around for a couple of days - If I may, I'll put this challenge on ice and declare Open House. LFH

Been done before but an interesting historic pic - taken about 40 years ago,

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC_0435.jpg

Ahh - camouflaged Frightnings.

Gutersloh ?

Issa Mk F2As innit.

Absolutely.

Not a clue on the Mk, it was a teenage snap shot.

Youngster. :E

92 Squadron.

The F2A was the only version in Germany.

Some called it the interim Mk6, but it had the old AI23 radar and Firestreaks.

At least it had GUNS.

Open house I'm afraid.

3 of the old 92 Sqdn aircraft were 'disposed of' to RAE Farnborough. They still had a 'bite' though. When the wings were being cut off one of them, some residual fuel vapour ignited causing an explosion which injured the person doing the cutting up.
I was tower controller at the time and my 60 year old assistant was so quick with the crash alarm that the fire service said they heard the klaxon before they heard the bang.

Try this -

http://i43.tinypic.com/2sb7ivs.jpg

OK. I'll bite.
I can't see any passenger terminal with aerobridges, so it does not look like a major domestic or international airport. The small and medium sized hangars suggest private and business aircraft based there, and there is an industrial area in the foreground.
Is it in the UK?

Cancel that UK question.
I see non-ICAO single digit runway designators.
And a what looks like a baseball playing field.
I'll go for North America now.

Scheduled air services started just this year and that's 3 x C-130's top right.

Aha. I had my suspicions that the cleanest bit of concrete with grey aircraft on it could have been military, but there was not enough detail to be sure.
Knowing they were C-130s and finding a list of their bases to check runway diagrams soon got a match with 142nd Airlift Squadron, Delaware ANG.

So it is:
New Castle Airport (KILG)
Wilmington Delaware USA

Interesting to know that Delaware was the only state in the USA that did not have a scheduled airline service until very recently.

Well done, New Castle it is, over to you.

OK. Let's have a bit of history then with this very old photo where the airfield has been tinted green.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0s-overlay.jpg

Some clues to start with:

• This airfield was opened in the 1920's and the land cost just over 5000 pounds.
• The sale conditions allowed the original owner to graze horses on the land overnight.

Essendon Aerodrome, Melbourne, Australia ?

That is it. Well done evansb -You have control.
I had several more hints ready, but you were too good. I guess the area reserved for the water tanks was a dead giveaway.

• The fenced off area was kept by a water supply authority and now contains several large water tanks.
• The airfield was expanded to the south in 1935 and 1943, and to the north in 1947.
• Housing development has surrounded the airfield now and, as usual, residents are clamoring for the airfield to be closed, even though it was there first!

Here is what it looks like now.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...6/Essendon.JPG

Here is another mystery aerodrome:
http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/...that_dromo.jpg