Iron Range Airbase

[george]

Maybe Setter or someone else from Australia would know the status of the old airbase at Iron Range. I have heard it was in a very remote, uninhabitable jungle. Is anything left from the war, B-26, B-17, B-24 parts or airframes? Or anything left of the base itself? Has the jungle completely hidden it? Thanks for any info.

[george]

I wanted to give this another attempt since Setter is on the board tonight. John, does this old base even exist anymore? Thanks.

[Walrus 7]

George,

In the last issue of Flightpath - Australia's best warbird mag - they ran a profile of Iron Range and its role in the Pacific War. There is very little left now and the chances of finding any wrecks is almost non-existant. Iron Range had a rather chequered operational career and I don't think there were many tears shed when it was closed.

Yes, Iron Range is indeed in the middle of rather inhospitable terrain.

I am more than happy to forward you the article if you'd like.

Walrus

[george]

Thanks, Walrus 7. I have read about all the hardships and crashes at Iron Range in the book THE JOLLY ROGERS, by John Alcorn. I am not familiar with Flighpath, would you know if its available in the U.S.? I would really appreciate you sending me the article, I sent you a PM. I assumed some of those wrecked Libs might be there, at least parts, since its so remote. Thanks again.

[Walrus 7]

George,

Got your PM and replied. Flightpath is possibly available in the US via subscription. Check out www.yaffa.com.au/mags/fphmag.htm.

Cheers

Walrus

[setter]

Hi George and Walrus 7

Sorry I completely missed this post - appologies - Iron Range is a real "Hell Hole" and I have visited there several times chasing wild goose stories - I do however believe there are /was the remains of B26/B24/Buffalo near there and that was the reason I was interested - several Buffalo parts have come out of the region over the years but I can never find the wreck and I am a bit confused about where it is supposed to be. The strip itself is very "cleaned up" but is supposed to have stuff buried there - why bother burying it but thats the story- the trouble is where do you start looking - you could spend years there and not find anything - it is one very large place.

Walrus 7 seems to have good knowledge of the place - do you know any helpful locals - I would love to find enough Buffalo to restore for an Australian Museum - Not a nice aircraft but we operated them and it has a place in our history.

Regards
John P

[Walrus 7]

John,

All I know of Iron Range is what I've read in the article, which I have since forwarded to George. It wasn't until I read it again did I realize that Iron Range is what we now call Lockhart River.

Agree with the Buffalo ... they and the Vengances (and a few Hudsons?) were all we had to throw at the Japanese on the Malayan Peninsula. An example would certainly be welcome in one of our museums.

Walrus

[george]

John - Thanks for the insight. Since you have actually been there, could you describe the base, i.e., is it still recognizable, are the runways still useable or overgrown, are there any people anywhere around there, etc. If you could find someone who served there during the war, maybe he would know the location of the dumps. From your description, it must be a huge airbase. I was a little confused about you saying "why bury the aircraft", unless you meant that no one could get there anyway. I assume the only way to get to the base is to fly in. This sounds like an amazing place to visit, with its history, remoteness and dumps.

Walrus 7 - I really look forward to receiving the article. Thanks much.

[Walrus 7]

George,

I have sent you a PM re: the article PDF. Cross your fingers ...

Walrus

[setter]

Hi
Lockhart river is now the name for Iron Range base.

It is a restricted area owing to it being a local indiginous aboriginal area. Thus access is restricted and doing any sort of recovery work is very difficult. There has been a fair bit of disruption there lately so it is not a good time to ask to go there.

It is hot, there is little evidence of the wartime activity but there is some, the runway has been upgraded for instance. It is fairly flat - a little overgrown in places with shrubbery /scrub but not too bad. It is just not a great place to spend time. It is not a huge base but was still large as any airfield is. I am sure there is access to wartime maps of the field I just never had the time to find them.

I work for the Government so that is why I was able to visit freely but not to do any serious digging etc. You would be involved in a lot of negoiating to do anything there.

Here is a government link about the area
http://www.mcmc.qld.gov.au/community/lockhart.php


And some other info

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/ ... range.html

http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/locations/muironrange.htm
http://members.dodo.com.au/qaww2/interest.htm

There's heaps more about it on the net. I have the book and it is excellent I sugest you get a copy and make the author happy!!!

Regards
John P

[george]

John - Thanks so much for all that information regarding Iron Range, and those links. So much is restricted: Iron Range, Irian Jaya, Morotai, etc. Just the thought of somebody bringing a B-26 (probably 22nd BG) out of the dump there -- then have Precision work their magic on it -- well, we can dream, I guess!

Walrus 7 - I'll PM you as soon as I get the article to let you know I got it.

[Walrus 7]

George,

You won't get it. I'm still getting the block reply from your IP. I will see what I can do about converting to text only and sending it over as a rtf or doc file

Walrus

[Mick Grinter]

You would find more at Truscott,but the locals will kick you out verry quickly.

[george]

Could you expound on that, Mick? Large burial pits?

[george]

Setter, Dave, Rob R. - Could you tell us about this Truscott area, and what is there? Thanks.