Caversham Airfield

Caversham Airfield
IATA: noneICAO: none
Summary
Location Caversham, Australia
Coordinates 31°50′16″S 115°58′27″E / 31.83778°S 115.97417°E / -31.83778; 115.97417Coordinates: 31°50′16″S 115°58′27″E / 31.83778°S 115.97417°E / -31.83778; 115.97417
Map
Caversham Airfield

Location in Western Australia

Caversham Airfield, also known as Middle Swan Airfield was an airfield constructed at Caversham, Western Australia during World War II as a parent aerodrome for the United States Fleet Air Arm of the 7th Fleet.

The airfield had a triangle of three landing strips.[1]

Middle Swan was the parent airfield with the following satellite airfields:-

The United States Army Air Corps also utilised the airfield during World War II.

It was also a gliding club location after the war.

Motor racing circuit

Caversham
Location Caversham, Australia
Owner Department of Defence
Operator Western Australia Sporting Car Club
Opened 1946
Closed 1968
Major events Australian Grand Prix
Australian Drivers' Champ.
Six Hour Le Mans
Length 3.50 km (2.18 mi)
Turns 10

The airfield was later utilised as a motor racing circuit, hosting its first event in 1946.[3] It became Western Australia's premier motor racing venue, hosting the Australian Grand Prix in 1957 and 1962 and the Six Hour Le Mans endurance race from 1955 to 1968.[3] Racing activities ceased when the airfield was re-activated as a military facility and Western Australian racing shifted to Wanneroo Raceway in 1969.[3]

See also

References

  1. OzatWar Website
  2. The usage of Gin Gin - at the Western Australian location - is found in some documents, but general usage is a single word with no duplication Gingin, Western Australia, there is another location in Australia with the duplicated form - see Gin Gin, Queensland
  3. 1 2 3 Pedr Davis, The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, page 78

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, July 22, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.