Outback 747 & a secret air force base

747-200 of the Qantas Founders Museum

We had relaxing day in Longreach yesterday.  Bruce and Rob visited the Qantas Founders Museum and Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame and I spent a couple of pleasant hours kayaking on the Thompson River with Shelley, Pete, Kristen and Gabby. Like most rivers in this vast flat land, there is barely any current so it was nice not having to exert yourself too much and just cruise along dipping an oar gently in the water while chatting.

There's a 747-200 parked outside the Qantas Founders Museum (under a big roof now) that you can tour.  It's customary when flying into Longreach airport to take a photo of your aircraft in front of the 747.  After packing our plane we pushed it into position in front of the 747 and took the following photo:

It's customary for visiting pilots to photograph their aircraft
in front of the Longreach 747

After re-fueling we left Longreach for our next stop - Charleville.

We are deep in the central Queensland outback now and the country we're flying over is parched cattle country.  Dotted over this remote flat land are large cattle stations, most of which have their own airstrip.  Aircraft and helicopters are common in these parts due the large area of the stations.  We've seen several helicopters far below mustering cattle or sheep.  How the animals survive in these parts is beyond me.

Far in the distance sometimes you see a line of dust.  That's a rare vehicle on an outback road kicking up a dusty trail that rises hundreds of feet into the air.

The flight to Charleville was lovely and smooth at 3,500'.  With our aircraft trimmed nicely it pretty well flew itself with just the odd nudge to keep it on track.  Although the land is barren and some might say boring, I love it out here.  It's so different from home and I often describe it as like flying over an oil painting - full of colours and textures.

We'd timed our arrival at Charleville so we could join the WW2 Secret Base Tour.  In 1943 3,500 United States Army Air Force personnel were stationed in Charleville supporting the war effort and servicing up to 300 B-17 aircraft.  Charleville was chosen because of its isolated position in central Queensland out of reach of Japanese bombers which didn't have the range to get to the base and return.  Although all the buildings used by the Air Force have long since gone, their foundations remain.  We'd been lucky enough to be given an airport car to use for our stay and so joined the drive-around tour around the former air base.

 

Leg Summary
Longreach (YLRE) - Charleville (YBCV)
Distance: 208nm (385km)
Time: 1.8hrs
Alt: 3,500ft

The view out the left window on the way to Charleville

 

The view out the right window on the way to Charleville
- remarkably similar and flat as far as the eye can see!

 

Charleville - the WW2 air force base occupied most
of the land in the foreground