Townsville Airport
Located just over three and a half kilometres west of Townsville's former Central Business District, Townsville Airport (IATA: TSV; a.k.a. Townsville International Airport or Garbutt Airport) is a combined facility, comprising Townsville's RAAF Base and other Australian Defence Force facilities with commercial and private operations. It also serves as one of Queensland's nine Royal Flying Doctor Service bases.
The facility replaced an earlier airfield licensed by the Civil Aviation Branch in 1930 located south of the Ross River in the modern-day suburb of Murray. After a relatively remote single east-west runway on boggy ground on the Ross River floodplain proved unsuitable for a growing aviation industry, a new facility on Townsville's Town Common opened at the start of February 1939 with two 730-metre gravel runways. RAAF Base Townsville, located on the Ingham Road side of the civilian airport, commenced operations early the following year with the RAAF's Number 24 Fighter Squadron arriving at the base in October 1940.
The outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour saw a rapid expansion of the airport's facilities to accommodate United States Army Air Corps bombers and transport aircraft operating in the Pacific theatre. A new runway was constructed, all three runways were sealed, and the south-east runway was extended to the 1,500 metres required to operate heavier aircraft. With five other military airfields operating in and around Townsville, RAAF Base Townsville was renamed RAAF Base Garbutt, taking its name from the nearby railway siding, and stockyards operated by wholesale butchers the Garbutt Brothers. The RAAF Base reverted to its former name in 1951.
Sources:
Townsville City Council: Stories of Townsville: Townsville Airport: https://stories.townsville.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/259
Wikipedia; Townsville Airport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townsville_Airport
