| Historical notes: | TRADITIONAL OWNERS
The traditional owners of Tocumwal are the Yorta Yorta people. It is unknown if the hangar site held any special, spiritual, or economic significance for the Yorta Yorta people, however there is evidence of Aboriginal occupation along the Murray River to the south and at the nearby Tocumwal 'Blow Hole' prior to European settlement.
DEVELOPMENT OF TOCUMWAL AIRFIELD
In May 1941, planning for 'the most ambitious project in this vital phase of the air war effort' was begun at Tocumwal for the construction of a permanent supply and maintenance depot including four all-weather runways on the aerodrome, satellite airfields, a depot staff of 2,000, and accommodation for 4,600 military personnel (Gillison, 1962). The decision to establish the base stemmed from the need to maintain US Army Air Forces in Darwin and Townsville (Stuart, 2021). Watson (1948) noted that 'in selection of the site, the authorities had been influenced by previous RAAF plans for a similar use of the place, by its convenient situation with reference to Melbourne and Sydney, and by the fact that it lay at a terminal point for different-gauge rail lines; but the decision also reflected the great current concern for security from enemy attacks on Australia'. According to Stuart (2021) 'at that time, the most likely attack would have been from carrier-borne aircraft such as those which attacked Pearl Harbor, Ceylon and Darwin, and it is likely that Tocumwal was thought to be out of effective range of a carrier strike'.
In February 1942, the Australian Government created the Allied Works Council to be responsible for the direction and control of works of whatever nature required for war purposes by the Allied forces in Australia (Hasluck, 1970 in Stuart, 2021). To ensure a labour supply to undertake the works, the Civil Constructional Corps was established from volunteers and persons called up under military impressment (Hasluck, 1970 in Stuart, 2021). The corps, under the control of the Director-General of Allied Works, were restricted to works undertaken by the Allied Works Council (Hasluck, 1970 in Stuart, 2021).
Commencing in February of 1943, the construction of the airfield at Tocumwal was one of the first known major projects of the Allied Works Council. An Allied Works Council (1943) report provides the following detail on the project:
'The buildings compose a depot area made up of six hangars, 18 stores, four engine repair shops, two engine test buildings, two propeller test houses, two machine shops, two parachute huts, electrical repair shop, wireless transmitter repair shop, instrument repair shop, woodworking shop, fabric dope buildings, air operations buildings, motor transport building two power houses, electroplating shop, five warehouses, 13 mess huts, three fire stations, one bombproof telephone exchange, a camp site, a permanent 250-bed hospital (six miles from the aerodrome proper), an ammunition camp, and an A.S.C. camp.
Each 6,600 feet long by 150 feet wide, and covering a total area of 366,900 square yards, the four runways are designed to take the heaviest plane. They are connected by taxiways which in turn lead to the flight and erection hangars.
The taxiways cover 254,000 square yards. Sealing of the runways and taxiways, together with tarmacs and roadways, consumed the whole of three months' supply of tar from the Broken Hill Pty. Ltd. The total tarred surface (three coats) was 1,375,590 square yards.'
On May 15, 1942, the US Army Air Corps arrived at Tocumwal with the first US plane landing on the airfield on April 24, 1942. From late April 1942, Tocumwal was used by the USAAF 36th Air Service Group as their main base in Australia with 7,000 personnel based there (Stuart, 2021).
The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 altered the strategic importance of southern airfields like Tocumwal and by the time construction was complete, it had been redesignated a Repair and Supply Depot. The airfield was designated McIntyre Field in July 1942 in honour of Captain Patrick W. McIntyre who was killed on June 5, 1942 (Stuart, 2021). When the American forces and USAAF moved to Queensland, the RAAF took charge of what was then known as Tocumwal Airfield on 14 November 1942 with strict conditions that it was not be used by the Army (Stuart, 2021).
To accommodate the RAAF, an ambitious construction program began for depot facilities. By mid-1943, the base was home to a permanent staff of 4,000 personnel and while living conditions were 'not particularly good' they enjoyed a range of recreational facilities: cricket, rowing, tennis and swimming in the Murray River.
No.7 Aircraft Depot was the initial RAAF unit at Tocumwal, providing airframe and engine maintenance for a variety of aircraft types and aircraft storage. No.7 Central Recovery Depot began collecting damaged aircraft and salvaging parts at Tocumwal in June 1943 (Stuart, 2021). No.5 Operational Training Unit (OTU) moved from Wagga to Tocumwal in October 1943 along with Beauforts, Beaufighters, Bostons and Mosquito aircraft, before moving to RAAF Williamtown north of Newcastle (Stuart, 2021).
The base at Tocumwal was designated as the first training centre in the South-West Pacific for B-24 Liberators. By February 1944, the formation of No. 7 Operational Training Unit (Heavy Bomber) was officially formed with a staff of 4,000, including 290 WAAAF women. The Liberator is an icon in the history of Australia's aviation heritage and development, and a monument to our nation's military resolve to resist the might of a would-be invader. A B-24 Liberator aircraft of national significance has been restored and is currently housed at the Werribee Airfield in Victoria.
Tocumwal was considered the most suitable for RAAF B-24 squadrons, crews and staff because of the numerous hangars, accommodation, servicing hardstands, long runways (four sealed runways up to 1,845m long) and large fuel-storage facilities (four underground tanks each of 55,000 litres capacity and a fifth 22,000 litre tank. Also in its favour was its proximity to RAAF Headquarters in Melbourne and the existence of a satellite field (Corona). Training 28 Australian B-24 crews each month, this unit grew to over 50 Liberators and supported the RAAF's combat Liberator squadrons (Stuart, 2021).
Salvage operations continued at Tocumwal after World War II with the Commonwealth Disposals Commission holding auctions of surplus aircraft. A metal smelter was established on the airfield by Melbourne scrap dealer R.H. Grant Trading Co which continued operating until 1963 when the last Meteors, Vampires and Mustangs were melted down to ingots (Stuart, 2021).
THE USE OF TIMBER IN AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION
The technological change in the use of timber in Australia is well illustrated by the large hangars at Tocumwal. Nolan (1994) argues that with the development of steel for construction the use of timber in anything but the simplest structures stagnated after WWI. He noted that timber engineering was a major area of research conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) by the 1930s. Out of that research, the CSIR introduced shear connector and modern lamination techniques to Australia, but found little traction amongst Australia's builders (Stuart, 2021). According to a report by Stuart (2021):
'With the advent of World War II, steel became a strategic material with the prospect of shortages through a lack of imports and a limited Australian production. The demand for timber for large structural purposes accelerated with the onset of the Pacific War and the consequential demand for military bases...With the advent of the Allied Works Council in February 1942, planners were confronted with a huge building programme to meet the requirements of war and the necessity to conserve steel. The Allied Works Council's Directorate of Works quickly recognised the advantages of the use of Australian timber as a building material for large engineering structures. Many thousands of square metres of covered space for the storage of supplies, aeroplane hangars, maintenance workshops, munitions factories were needed. Although such structures would normally have been framed in steel, they now had to be built in timber.
Allied Works Council Engineers quickly adapted themselves to designing all types of timber framed buildings and overcame associated difficulties. In particular the use of unseasoned 'green' timber was required due to the difficulty of having sufficient time for timber seasoning. Green timber had not previously been employed in a major structural role, and its behaviour was a subject of experiment, both in the laboratory and in the field'.
Therefore, the hangars at Tocumwal were an experiment in construction using local green timber. Nolan (1994) comments 'architecturally these structures are unique as they are the first long-span trusses recorded that use timber as tension web members. They are the longest clear span gable shaped timber truss buildings known in Australia'. Nolan (1994) also noted 'many of these structures had to be propped and recambered. With the seasoning of the timbers, these trusses stabilised and those inspected in August 1992 were performing satisfactorily'.
Following the success of the Tocumwal hangars, timber truss hangars of the Modified Type 3A and the smaller Type 3B were also built at Werribee, Victoria; Charleville and Garbutt, Queensland; and Maylands, Western Australia. However, only one of the five hangars at Werribee was of the large Type 3A. Constructed in 1942, the Werribee Satellite Aerodrome served throughout the Second World War as a satellite to the nearby Point Cook and Laverton RAAF airfields (now known collectively as RAAF Williams). The Werribee, hangars are now state heritage listed.
After 1942, this method of construction of aircraft hangars was abandoned in favour of the prefabricated steel 'Bellman' type hangars, examples of which survive at the state heritage listed Ballarat RAAF Base in Victoria and Evans Head in NSW. |