World War II Airstrip Strauss - NT

Information

Strauss Field, 45 Klms south of Darwin, was built by the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion, less Company A and HQ Detachment from 19 March to 27 April 1942. They built 5,000 ft of runway that was 100 ft wide with 10 to 20 ft shoulders paved with 4 inches of clay bound gravel and a coat of diesel oil. Also built was 2, 000 ft of taxiway 30 ft wide with 10 ft shoulders paved with 3 inches of gravel and 12 dispersals without revetments. and it still has the original bitumen.
Strauss Airstrip, dating from 1942-45, is one of the last surviving and most intact World War Two pursuit fighter installations in northern Australia. An important strategic component of the Allied defence of northern Australia, Strauss played a pivotal role in the air war against Japan by providing a base for the use of P40 Kittyhawk and Spitfire fighter squadrons.
Strauss was used by large numbers of American and British aircraft during the war, and has associations with Australia's engagement during the 20th Century in the crucial alliance with the United States and Great Britain.
Artefacts at Strauss Airstrip represent significant elements of a wartime airstrip with the potential to contribute to an understanding of the role of the pursuit fighter squadrons in Darwin during World War Two, in addition to informing the lives of servicemen in a (then) remote theatre of war.