Longreach Airport
| Longreach Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Longreach Shire Council | ||||||||||
| Location | Longreach, Queensland | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 627 ft / 191 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 23°26′03″S 144°16′49″E / 23.43417°S 144.28028°ECoordinates: 23°26′03″S 144°16′49″E / 23.43417°S 144.28028°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 YLRE
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Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart
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Longreach Airport (IATA: LRE, ICAO: YLRE) is situated in Longreach, Queensland, Australia. The airport is 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) northeast of the city.
Longreach has played a major part in Australian aviation from 1919 onwards. In August of that year, a small party left the town to travel overland to survey a route suitable for competitors in the first air race to leave England en route to Australia. The travellers included Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, two pilots who had both been trained in the Australian Flying Corps during World War I. In December 1919, a Vickers Vimy landed, piloted by Ross and Keith Smith, who were en route to Melbourne after completing the first England to Australia flight. They were the first to use the air route pioneered by Fysh and McGinness.
The first overland flight across the Australian continent from Melbourne to Darwin passed through the airport in 1919. This flight was undertaken by Captain Henry Wrigley and Sergeant Arthur Murphy, flying a B.E.2.
In 1920, the first single engine aircraft to complete the flight from England to Australia arrived. The aircraft was an Airco DH.9, piloted by Ray Parer and John McIntosh.
In late 1920, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service was founded. Although founded in Winton, the first operational base for the airline, later to be known as QANTAS, was Longreach. Principal among the pioneers of the airline were Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, who had seen the opportunities aviation had presented to remote Australia during their survey the previous year. One of the original Qantas hangars survives at the airport to this day.
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