RAAF Base Tindal

RAAF Base Tindal Tindal Airport Katherine Tindal Civilian Airport
IATA: KTR ICAO: YPTN
Summary
Airport type	Military/public
Operator	Royal Australian Air Force
Location	Katherine, Northern Territory
Elevation AMSL	443 ft / 135 m
Coordinates	14°31′16″S 132°22′40″E / 14.52111°S 132.37778°E / -14.52111; 132.37778Coordinates: 14°31′16″S 132°22′40″E / 14.52111°S 132.37778°E / -14.52111; 132.37778
Website	www.airforce.gov.au www.ktc.nt.gov.au
Map
YPTN Location in the Northern Territory
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 14/32 2,744 9,003 Asphalt
Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart

RAAF Base Tindal (IATA: KTR, ICAO: YPTN) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) air base located 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) east southeast of the town of Katherine, Northern Territory. It is currently home to No. 75 Squadron and a number of non-flying units, and also hosts the Katherine Tindal Civilian Airport. First constructed in 1942, it was refurbished in the late 1960s as a "bare base" capable of being utilised when required. It was opened as a permanently manned RAAF base in 1989.

Tindal was initially built for the RAAF as Carson's Airfield in 1942. The airfield was constructed by the US Army's 43rd Engineer General Service Regiment. Its purpose was to provide a base for Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers that could strike at Japanese targets in Papua New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, but the turning tide of the war rendered this unnecessary and no aircraft were deployed there before the cessation of hostilities. In 1946, the airfield was renamed in honour of Wing Commander Archibald (Archie) Tindal, the first RAAF member killed in action on the Australian mainland during World War II; he died while manning a machine gun against Japanese raiders bombing Darwin on 19 February 1942, and was buried at the Adelaide River war cemetery.

In 1959, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger, proposed building a second airfield in the Darwin area. Like Tindal, he had been in Darwin when it was bombed by the Japanese in 1942, and believed that Australia's defences in the north needed to be strengthened. Following a survey, Tindal was selected in May 1963 as being close enough to RAAF Base Darwin to afford mutual protection, but far enough from the coast to be defensible and to avoid the effects of tropical cyclones. Other factors, such as being outside the projected nuclear fall-out zone should Darwin be targeted by a nuclear weapon, as well as an adequate water supply and suitable road and rail connections, also influenced the decision.