Archerfield Second World War Igloos Complex

About

Archerfield Second World War Igloos Complex is a heritage-listed group of hangars at 98–138 Kerry Road, Archerfield Airport, Archerfield, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They were built from February 1943 February to circa April 1944 by the Allied Works Council. They were also known as Hastings Deering (Australia) Ltd premises and Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd premises. They were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 August 1999.

The Archerfield Second World War Igloos Complex comprises three former igloo hangars and one associated igloo store. These structures are located on a site which had been part of the Archerfield Aerodrome during the Second World War, and each is a timber truss igloo structure with corrugated iron or ribbed metal sheet cladding. The igloos were constructed in 1943–44 by the Allied Works Council for the Department of Aircraft Production. The complex was used for military aircraft maintenance and repair under the control of the US 81st Air Depot Group, and under the U.S. 5th Air Force under the command of General Douglas MacArthur 's Supreme Headquarters of the South West Pacific Area. It has been noted in a study of prefabricated Second World War structures that the Archerfield Second World War Igloos are among "the longest clear span buildings existing in Australia."

History of the Site, and aviation in Brisbane, to the Second World War

The area immediately surrounding the Archerfield Second World War Igloos Complex has been known as Archerfield only since 1929. As early as 1826 the wider area was known as Cowper's (later Cooper's) Plains, named after the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement's first medical officer, Dr Henry Cowper, who, during his regular visits to Limestone Hill ( Ipswich ), camped overnight on the government cattle run established on the grassy plains east of Oxley Creek, about 7 miles (11 km) south of the main Brisbane River settlement.

The first freehold land in the district was made available in the 1850s, and most of the remaining land was taken up in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1855 Thomas Grenier purchased from the New South Wales Government 640 acres (260 ha), much of which is now part of Archerfield Aerodrome. The land on which the igloo structures are located was granted by Deed of Grant in July 1856 to John and Isaac Markwell. The land was transferred in December 1878 to George and Samuel Grimes, and later to Annie and Martin Finucane in March 1901 who subdivided the property. The land surrounding the igloos was transferred to the members of Spring and Sims families in the 1910s and 1920s, and this land was acquired by the Crown in February 1945 pursuant to the provisions of the Lands Acquisition Act 1906 and The Real Property (Commonwealth Titles) Act of 1924.

The first aerodrome in Brisbane was established on a site at Eagle Farm which had been inspected in February 1922 by Captain EC Johnston, Superintendent of Aerodromes, Civil Aviation Department, as a site for a civil aerodrome. A grass airstrip was formed in 1923, and a layout for hangar blocks with a caretaker's cottage was prepared in February 1924. The Brisbane Civil Aviation hangar was constructed at the site c.1925, and the first commercial operations were commenced by Qantas in 1926, which formed the Brisbane Flying Training School in 1927. By August 1928 a second hangar housing Qantas was located adjacent to the north of the Brisbane Civil Aviation hangar, with a caretakers cottage to the south. However, the aerodrome suffered from poor drainage and flooding.

Significant aviation events during this period included the landing of the Southern Cross in June 1928. Squadron Leader Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm completed the first trans-Pacific flight from California to Brisbane, landing at Eagle Farm. Kingsford-Smith and Ulm formed Australian National Airways in 1929 and initiated scheduled services between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Also of note in 1928, Squadron Leader Bert Hinkler AFC completed the first solo flight from England to Australia in 16 days in a light aeroplane. On 10 April 1933, Queensland aviator Mrs Lores Bonney left Archerfield on the start of her solo flight to England.

In September 1928 the Brisbane City Council approved of about 228 acres (92 ha) of farm land at Cooper's Plains (renamed Archerfield July 1929), near Oxley – part of the 640 acres (260 ha) first alienated by Thomas Grenier in 1855 – as the site for a new Brisbane aerodrome. This site was intended to replace the Eagle Farm Aerodrome, which had suffered substantial flooding. In 1929 the Commonwealth Government resumed the bulk of the present airfield, with frontages to Beatty, Mortimer and Boundary Roads, and additional land was acquired in 1930, 1936 and 1942. In August 1929 it was stated that as soon as the aerodrome at Archerfield was acquired and prepared, flying activities would be transferred from Eagle Farm which would then be available for disposal, and that the two existing hangars would be moved to Archerfield, but that the caretakers cottage on the site would remain. Eagle Farm continued to operate until 1931 when it was closed after heavy rains. The first hangars were erected or moved to Archerfield in 1930–31. The Queensland Aero Club, which had been established in 1919, was based at Eagle Farm during the 1920s and moved to Archerfield 1931.

In 1929 the Eagle Farm site was placed with the Department of the Interior for sale, and several options for disposal of the property were considered, including industrial sites or to the general public in broad acre lots or by subdivision. In 1931 it was assessed as having a poor prospect of sale, and it was recommended to lease the land until the real estate market improved.

Until 1939, Archerfield Aerodrome comprised one large, grassy field of nearly 300 acres (120 ha), several hangars located along the Beatty Road side of the airfield just north of the God's Acre Cemetery, and the Queensland Aero Club's facilities at the northern end of the field along Boundary Road. There was no tarmac, and the roads in and out of the airfield and to the buildings were unsealed. The first control tower was a small timber structure on steel posts, which was replaced by a new Archerfield Administration, Passenger Terminal and Control Tower Building erected in 1941. Preliminary plans for a control and administrative building were prepared in 1936 as part of the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation's commitment to improve facilities at a number of strategic airfields around the country. From 1935 to 1936, it was reported that the number of passengers travelling through Archerfield had doubled, and that Brisbane's position as a strategic centre in the Empire Air Mail scheme had been enhanced by Qantas duplication of the English mail service.

In June 1939 the Eagle Farm Aerodrome site was still being considered for sale, however by early 1940 the Minister for Civil Aviation, the Honourable James Fairbairn, stated that the Eagle Farm Aerodrome site was very suitable for training purposes, and directed that it be retained. This was supported by Captain Johnston, who originally selected the site. This decision is likely related to Fairbairn's attendance at a meeting in Ottawa in December 1939 in which the details of the Empire Air Training Scheme were concluded. Australia had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, and the importance placed on the retention of Eagle Farm in concert with Archerfield is reflected in Fairbairn's report to Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies that "the only activity that we have undertaken which could lead to the winning or losing of the war by our failure or success in carrying out our undertaking is the Empire Air Training Scheme".

After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Archerfield Aerodrome assumed a new strategic importance as it provided a base for Australian, American, British, and Dutch air squadrons, was used for the maintenance and repair of military aircraft, and for training purposes. Archerfield Aerodrome played an important role in the Allied war effort, particularly following the entry of Japan into the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor on 9 December 1941. Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Archerfield Aerodrome was placed on "war alert". The aircraft were dispersed around the boundary of the airfield to minimise damage in case of attack and duty crews were on immediate standby at all times. Other precautions at Archerfield in case of air attack included slit trenches, introduction of camouflage, and the use of decoy aircraft.

Military aviation in Australia, and events leading to the Second World War

The Australian Flying Corps were involved in the First World War as part of the Australian Army. Following the establishment of the Royal Air Force in 1918, Australia's Minister for Defence, Senator George Pearce, appointed the Swinburne Committee to report on the needs of military aviation. Australia's involvement in the Imperial defence strategy inevitably placed its senior military commanders in a position subordinate to their British counterparts, and as its starting point the Committee accepted the strategy's basis that Australia's security would continue to be based on sea power. The committee found that while they supported the establishment of an air service, they rejected any suggestion that it should have an independent role. Any Australian air force would exist solely to support the sea and land forces.

The Committee recommended the formation of a single, separate air corps, which would be administered by an Air Board composed of members of the Naval and Military Boards, while the wings of the corps allotted to the Navy and Army were to be controlled by the Naval and Military Boards respectively. Cabinet approved the proposal on 18 February 1919, and the Air Board was formed with the Air Corps key role determined as surveillance. The Navy and Army had their own tasks for the air service, and in April 1920 put forward a proposal for the formation of an air force to meet certain fundamental needs of the Navy and Army, which included torpedo bombers, patrol planes, flying boats and seaplanes, fighting planes, reconnaissance planes and bombers. The Air Corps became the Royal Australian Air Force on 31 March 1921 with a total complement of 21 officers, and the bulk of its aircraft came as a gift from the Imperial government and consisted of essentially obsolete machines left over from the First World War.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) came into being as the world's second separate air force, and its establishment coincided with the decision to place defence spending on a peacetime basis for the first time since the First World War. In 1924, the Air Board described the RAAF's condition as most unsatisfactory and that it survived on a hand-to-mouth existence, with 65 officers and 300 men and only two machines fit for war. Defence funding became even tighter in the Great Depression years, and the situation did not improve until the mid-1930s with the growing threat of war and easing of the Depression.

A particularly strong anti-RAAF move emerged in 1929 when there was a possibility that the Air Force would be dismembered and split between the other two forces, a threat which was apparent until after the mid-1930s. This coincided with Salmond Report of 1928 which recommended that Australia substitute air power (due to its speed, mobility, flexibility and offensive striking power) for sea and land power. As the Air Force entered the 1930s, it was still equipped with 1916–17 types of machines, although the growing threat of the Japanese air force had been recognised as early as 1925 in the Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia by Air Commodore Richard Williams.

The 1920s had seen a vast improvement across the spectrum of aircraft performance, particularly in range and reliability. This was highlighted in 1928 when Squadron Leader Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm completed the first trans-Pacific flight from California to Brisbane landing at Eagle Farm, and Squadron Leader Bert Hinkler AFC completed the first solo flight from England to Australia in 16 days in a light aeroplane. The capability now existed for long range strike operations against enemy shipping.

Australia's defence independence was constrained by the commitment to the Imperial strategy and the British connection. The Imperial Conference of 1923 declared that the basis of the Empire's security was the sheltering screen provided by the Royal Navy, a judgement which was confirmed at subsequent conferences until 1937. Twice during the interwar period, a review of the RAAF was thought necessary, but in each occasion the government turned to an RAF officer, resulting in the Salmond Report of 1928 and the Ellington Report of 1938.

Germany had invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and on 3 September 1939 Australia declared war on Germany. The RAF realised that if massive expansion were necessary, Britain had the industrial capacity to increase aircraft production but it would not be able to train enough aircrew from British sources. Through Australia's commitment to the defence of Britain, agreement was reached that Australia and other Dominions would participate in a massive training program, subsequently known as the Empire Air Training Scheme, the details of which were concluded at a meeting in Ottawa in December 1939. Australia contributed over 27,000 men to the scheme throughout the Second World War. The RAAF's involvement in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was more complex than in Europe.