RAAF Base Townsville is located in the heart of Townsville and has a long and proud association with the people of North Queensland, actively supporting the community from Cooktown to the north and Longreach in the west.
The base hosts a large number of deployments throughout the year. It is significant in providing support services for other Air Force operations and exercises involving all in-service aircraft types, together with a myriad of aircraft from visiting forces.
RAAF Base Townsville also plays an important part in ADF operations as forward operating base for forces being deployed on operations into the South West Pacific as well as to the North.
In residence
The following are based at RAAF Base Townsville.
- No 27 (City of Townsville) Squadron – air base support
- No 65 Air Base Recovery Squadron – air base recovery
- No 383 Squadron - contingency response squadron
- No 452 Squadron Townsville Flight - air traffic control
- Combat Survival Training School - evasion and escape training
- Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment – Taipan (MRH-90) and Chinook (CH-47) helicopters
- No 1 Expeditionary Health Squadron Detachment Townsville
- No 2 Security Forces Squadron detachment Townsville
- Air Force Museum – The Heritage Centre
- No 1 Wing, Headquarters
- No 101 Squadron Australian Air Force Cadets.
Community consultation
RAAF Base Townsville works closely with Townsville Airport, which has established a local Community Aviation Consultation Group to help facilitate greater community consultation, particularly on planning and development activities at the airport.
Noise mitigation
Noise abatement procedures and strategies for RAAF Base Townsville are outlined in the RAAF Base Townsville Aircraft Noise Management Plan.
Additionally, night flying by military fast jet aircraft is limited to operational training only. When night flying is required for pilot training, flights will usually be completed by 9pm and notification of times will be made by media release. All low-flying operations for specialist training are kept to a minimum.
Flying schedule
RAAF Base Townsville plays an important role in the training of military pilots, and hosts a number of exercises during the year.
Flying areas
The map below identifies the flying areas utilised by RAAF Base Townsville.