Fairbairn Airbase
| RAAF Base Fairbairn | |
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| Canberra, Australian Capital Territory in Australia | |
Fairbairn viewed from Mount Ainslie
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Fairbairn hangars and air traffic control tower viewed from the main runway
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 RAAF Base Fairbairn
Location in the Australian Capital Territory
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| Coordinates | 35°18′07″S 149°12′07″E / 35.302°S 149.202°ECoordinates: 35°18′07″S 149°12′07″E / 35.302°S 149.202°E |
| Type | Former military air base |
| Site information | |
| Operator |  Royal Australian Air Force |
| Site history | |
| In use | 1 April 1940 – 27 June 2003 |
Fairbairn, formerly RAAF Base Fairbairn, is a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base, located in Australia's national capital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Over the years the name of the establishment, and the use of the land, has changed. The base was in use by the RAAF between 1940 and 2007, when the land occupied north and east of the Canberra Airport runways was sold to Capital Airport Pty Limited for the purposes of advancing civil aviation and the development of a business park.
RAAF squadrons were permanently based at the Canberra Aerodrome from 1939. The base was formally established as RAAF Station Canberra on 1 April 1940. In 1941 part of the airport was named Fairbairn Airbase after the late Minister for Air and Civil Aviation James Fairbairn, Member of the Australian House of Representatives, who was killed in an aircraft crash in the proximity of the airfield on 13 August 1940.
A joint Dutch East Indies-Australian medium bomber unit, No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF was formed at Fairbairn on 4 April 1942, paving the way for other such units. 18 (NEI) Sqn was drawn initially from two groups of ethnic Dutch and Indonesian personnel, who had been evacuted from Japanese occupied Indonesia to either RAAF Archerfield, Queensland or Melbourne. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel B. J. Fiedeldij of the Military Aviation of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL-ML), the staff of 18 (NEI) Sqn was complemented by a number of RAAF personnel, including both aviators and ground staff. After it had become fully operational with North American B-25 Mitchells, 18 (NEI) RAAF was deployed to, and carried out missions throughout the South West Pacific theatre.
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