| House | $478,500  |
| Land | $420,000 |
Surrounding suburbs
| Cardigan | $1,110,500 |
| Miners Rest | $635,200 |
| Wendouree | $436,300 |
| House | $500  |
| Neighbour Photos |
| Map | Street view | Nearby property price |
| Planning History: |
| Registered as Victorian heritage |
| Last updated on - July 31, 2007 What is significant? The former Ballarat Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base on the site of the present Ballarat Aerodrome, seven kilometres northwest of Ballarat city centre was constructed in 1940 at the outset of the Second World War as a training school for Wireless Air Gunners under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The Scheme was established by the British with Canada, Australia and New Zealand to rapidly train air crews for the British Bomber Command to fight the then far superior German Air Force. Under EATS which operated from 1939-1945 the RAAF was committed to training 28,000 aircrew over three years including navigators, wireless operators, air gunners and pilots, equating to around 900 aircrew every four weeks. To achieve this the RAAF embarked on a rapid and extensive program, establishing a network of twenty-eight EATS schools in eastern Australia by the end of 1941, each specialising in specific skill sets required of air crew members. The former Ballarat RAAF Base was Australia's No.1 Wireless Air Gunners School (WAGS), the first of three WAGS created under the Scheme and the only one in Victoria. Gunnery training was undertaken at Bombing and Gunnery Schools such as Sale. By 1941 there were nearly 800 personnel on the former Ballarat RAAF Base and by the end of March 1942 a total of 1238 air men had been trained in the operation of radio equipment using Avro Anson and Wackett Trainer aircraft. Australia's alliance with the USA had a brief impact on the Ballarat base in 1942 when the ground echelon of a USAAF heavy bomber squadron camped for two months in the field to the south of the main accommodation area of the base. A radar training wing was established at the Ballarat RAAF Base in 1945. The RAAF's No.7 Operational Training Unit, which was based at RAAF Tocumwal, stationed some of its Liberator bombers at the Ballarat base for a period for radar training of its aircrews. Basic training for wireless operators ceased in May 1945 by which time 5025 trainees has been through the school. The Wireless Air Gunners School was formally disbanded in January 1946. The RAAF continued to operate the aerodrome until 1961 when it became the property of the Ballarat Council. The Ballarat Aerodrome continues to operate as a civil airport and the surviving Second World War structures on the site provide accommodation for a large number of community organisations including an aviation museum. The extant Second World War structures associated with the WAGS are primarily 'P-Type Huts' and Bellman Hangars, neither of which were originally intended to be permanent structures, having been prefabricated and erected on military sites throughout Australia in response to the sudden and urgent need for semi-permanent accommodation for service personnel and aircraft hangars at |
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