- Home
- Mareeba Airfield Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Station 448
/
Mareeba Airfield Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Station 448
Mareeba Air Defences
The reinforced concrete elements of Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Gun Station 448, the northernmost of two HAA gun stations at Mareeba, are spread over a number of properties south of McIvor Road to the west of Ray Road. There is a single room underground Command Post (CP); two octagonal in-ground gun emplacements (of four that were laid out in an arc west and north of the CP); and four semi-underground magazines. The magazines are covered with earth mounds, and each has two entrances with stairs down to a central corridor, with a doorway to a single room.
HAA Gun Station 449 is located on farm land south of the airport, west of the Kennedy Highway. The four gun emplacements were laid out in a square, but only three are evident. Each has been filled to varying depths. It is probable that the missing fourth gun emplacement and underground CP are also buried. Four ammunition storage magazines are located nearby.
Place information
Location
Place type
Fortifications
History
Mareeba Airfield was constructed between May 1942 and early 1943 and was used by both RAAF and USAAF units. The southernmost runway, which runs roughly east-west, is located about 6km south of Mareeba on the Kennedy Highway and now functions as Mareeba airport. To the north of the airport, west of Ray Road, are the remnants of a second runway, which runs roughly north-south. Curving wartime dispersal taxiways are still evident in the farmland between the runways.
Although Mareeba was a base for bombing raids on the Japanese, it also required protection against Japanese attack. Early anti-aircraft defence of Mareeba Airfield...
Share
Copy Link