Darwin to the fore

By SQNLDR Paul Lineham

A Singaporean F16 waits to take off for a night flying exercise as a C-130J approaches for landing.

Photo by CPL Darren Hilder

FOR many people, Darwin was simply the place that got bombed in World War II and where Cyclone Tracy vented its spleen in 1974.

That all changed in 1999 when Australia was asked to lead an international coalition of forces into East Timor (InterFET). Almost overnight, RAAF Base Darwin was thrust into prominence, and it rose to the occasion magnificently.

A large tract of land near the 1940s-style Officers’ Mess became transformed with a series of demountable cabins and facilities into a transit establishment known as “Tin City”.

Intended as the temporary home for those deploying to East Timor, it also became home to many personnel who worked around the clock supporting their needs and the requirement to turn around the international air armada of transport aircraft carrying aid.

This infrastructure meant that RAAF Base Darwin had the basic requirements already in place to accommodate participants in exercises on the scale of Pitch Black.

Base Commander Wing Commander Doug Phelan said that Darwin expanded its services considerably during Pitch Black 2004. This included catering and accommodation support, fuel, maintenance and ground support services.

“Throughout Pitch Black, the base command post was operated around the clock and augmentation from Reserve squadrons right across the country was essential to the exercise, from command and control to even manning the fuel tankers,” WGCDR Phelan said.

The fuel demands of the Darwinbased high performance jets involved in the exercise was enormous, with 12 to 14 road trains of fuel a day required to service their requirements.

Even in the Territory – where everything and everyone seems larger than life – the supply of these amounts of fuel required considerable planning.

“We were obliged to prepare six months in advance for the fuel demands of Pitch Black. It was a logistical challenge but with sensible planning, the demands of the aircraft were catered for,” WGCDR Phelan said.

Even though the majority of the international participants stayed off base, and there were minimal requirements for specific cuisine such as halal, most of the messes on base operated on double hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

From a logistics perspective, PB04 was the largest exercise of its type held at RAAF Base Darwin.

WGCDR Phelan said that with more than 1000 personnel accommodated on the base and in excess of 3000 meals served a day, the challenges for the base were significant. Nevertheless, it managed with flying colours.

“The base’s role as a forward operating and training base is now firmly established and our 655 personnel can and do meet the challenges to which we are called,” he said.

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