Redeveloped East Sale formally opened

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies and Assistant Minister for Defence Darren Chester have officially opened the RAAF Base East Sale redevelopment, marking the culmination of the three year, $185 million construction project.

“RAAF Base East Sale was long overdue for new and upgraded facilities to meet both current and future training requirements,”Assistant Minister Chester said on October 8.

“This extensive redevelopment is also significant within the community for its considerable local economic benefits. As the local member I have had great personal satisfaction in witnessing the local construction industry directly benefiting from this extensive project.”

The redevelopment includes new and refurbished accommodation for RAAF personnel, training facilities, commercial facilities including a café and post office, and an air traffic control tower.

ADF basic flying training is set to be delivered from RAAF Base East Sale, after the Lockheed Martin Australia led Team 21 was named as the preferred tenderer for the new ADF pilot training system (Project AIR 5428) on September 6.

AIRMSHL Davies stated that the new facilities would set up East Sale for future needs.

“RAAF Base East Sale is a significant base for our officer training, and is the location of several specialised flight training schools,” he said. “These new and improved facilities will serve Air Force and our dedicated men and women for many years to come.”

Comments (4)

Roger Patrick

October 19, 2015 at 4:59 pm

as a former member of RAAF MNTESL (Maintenance Squadron East Sale) back in the 1970’s, it is good to see the old place get a significant update.
….memories…working on MB326H’s in 4deg.C Cold at 0700 – cold enough the rip the skin off your hand if you were silly enough the touch the aircraft skin with your bare hand,
restringing HF antenna’s from the cockpit roof to the vertical tailfin on the HS748’s,
“”tuning”” the VHF radio on a Winjeel using a glowing lightbulb!!,
the last of the C47’s and the first of the Collins Microline avionics fitted the the CT4’s.
ah!!! those were the days…….

Neale Horrocks

October 19, 2015 at 5:56 pm

Ah! 1952, East Sale, direct from Qld .Freezing. Still had Mosquito, a Beaufighter, Tiger moths (flying backwards in the wind) prototype Winjeel with P on fuselage, Lincolns. Dakotas, and Wirraways. A wrecked B24 Liberator was over the back of the airstrip along with a belly landed Mustang. Old war time , unlined wooden huts, primitive messes, about half dozen cars in airmen’s carpark Those were the days but I’d love to see the old place again

Jason

October 23, 2015 at 2:34 pm

Hi guys, have noticed a real lack of Defence content in recent weeks. The last Defence article was posted 10 days ago (this one). I hope it’s just a temporary thing, as AA is always my first go-to news site every morning.

australianaviation.com.au
says:

October 23, 2015 at 3:44 pm

Hi Jason,
While we do try to cover defence-related stories, please do consider checking out our sister publication Australian Defence Business Review for your defence news fix.
The website is: http://adbr.com.au
Cheers.

Comments are closed.