In desolate, semi-desert spinifex country, set alongside a dramatic ironstone ridge, a heavily camouflaged and carefully hidden structure known as No 73 Operational Base Unit can be found. It used to be called Corunna Downs, the name of the still-active cattle station on which the base is located.
The air base has been excised from the Corunna Downs Station so visitors can now visit this site freely, without needing permission from the station. The long runways still remain, built to handle the heaviest four-engine bombers of the day. In fact, they have recently been graded and cleared of both the old cracked and parched bitumen surface and the encroaching spinifex and desert foliage.
The main runways (east/west and north/ south), measuring
