Portal:City of Bankstown/Selected article/1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bankstown Bunker is a disused RAAF operations facility, located on the Corner of Marion and Edgar Streets, Condell Park.

During World War II, when Bankstown Airport was established as a key strategic air base to support the war effort, the specially constructed bunker became an important Royal Australian Air Force control point and headquarters from 1945 until it was closed in 1947.

The Bankstown Bunker was an exact replica of the underground Ops rooms of wartime England, which directed Britain's air defence fighter plane attacks on the invading German Luftwaffe.

It had all the attenuated fixtures necessary to run a top secret operational defence base. The bunker was equipped with its own code room, plotting rooms, two escape tunnels and a radio transmitter room. In the centre of the bunker was a large room of about two-stories in height. This was the main Ops room and control centre for all RAAF Missions in the Pacific area. The room also had a large map, (24' x 18') denoting troop positions in the South West Pacific theater of World War II.

The Bankstown Bunker still exists and it is currently buried under a public park at the end of Taylor Street, Condell Park.