More History
Aircraft were using the landing strip now known as Mittagong Airfield as far back as the 1920s. In June 1928 the Mittagong Star newspaper reported the arrival at the airfield of nine aeroplanes that were taking part in a ‘reliability tour’ from Mascot to Canberra. Bad weather had prevented the group from continuing on so after a lunch function hosted by members of the local Councils and an impromptu air show was attended by a large crowd the group left and returned to Mascot. Subsequently the council lobbied for the ground to be upgraded and developed as an aerodrome but this did not eventuate.
By 1942 the Japanese advance had reached New Guinea and the presence of American forces and equipment in Australia required the construction of many emergency airfields within easy distance of the coast. It was recognised that the field could be developed into a tar sealed military airfield to bolster the air defence of Wollongong and the Port Kembla steelworks.
With American know-how and wartime funds, a team of 38 local men helped to construct the airstrip within just six months. The strip itself was more than 5000 feet in length with a herringbone pattern of underground drains and 3 inches of foundation. A large open drain was created down the length of the runway on its south eastern side of the runway and steel bridges across this provides access to taxiways and a dozen revetments (aircraft storage bays) that were dug in to the hillside and camouflaged to protect aircraft from fragmentation bombs.
By about 1944, the centre of war activity had moved northward and the airstrip's importance as a defence asset waned. It was for some time to store aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm, which had a major base at Nowra (HMAS Albatross).
In 1946 the Department of Defence handed the airfield back to the land owners with compensation. The local council expressed its extreme frustration at the time, arguing that the airfield should have been retained as part of the civil aviation plan in public hands rather than potentially being lost as an airfield forever.
Reports showed that council attempted unsuccessfully to acquire the airfield again in 1947. In 1948 and 1948 the airfield was for a number of motorcycle race meetings that were attended by thousands of people.
Private operators and crop-dusting pilots used the airfield under private arrangements with the land owners throughout the years until the 1960s. The Berrima District Aero Club operated at the airfield for some time before moving to a grass airstrip on Sproules Lane at Bong Bong.
Council failed again to acquire the airfield in 1966.
In 1972 the Berrima District Aero Club returned from the Sproules Lane airstrip to make Mittagong Airfield its ‘home base’ under a lease arrangement with the land owners. Since then the club has operated and maintained the airfield exclusively at its own expense. A clubhouse and hangars have been built over the years and the airfield has been used consistently by aircraft to travel to and from the Southern Highlands on for business and pleasure. It is used as a base for power and gas line safety surveys, for emergency aero medical transport, by the Defence Department and National Parks for training exercises and by the Rural Fire Service as required during major bushfire emergencies.
With no financial support from any level of government and a long term lease due to expire in January 2024, the Berrima District Aero Club, after almost 15 years of difficult, complex and expensive negotiations, finally managed to purchase the land on which the Mittagong Airfield exists in October 2021.
The 103 acres of land now owned by the club includes the airstrip itself as well as 40 acres of land south-east of the strip where 5 of the 12 revetment sites exist.