HMAS Albatross (air station)

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NAS Nowra
IATA: N/A - ICAO: YSNW
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		RAN
Serves		Nowra, New South Wales
Elevation AMSL		400 ft (131 m)
Coordinates		34°56′54″S, 150°32′12″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
03/21	6,713	2,046	Asphalt
08/26	6,870	6,571	Asphalt

The second HMAS Albatross is the Fleet Air Arm's base near Nowra in New South Wales, about 2 hours drive south of Sydney.

Albatross is the home of the RAN's entire air fleet, which currently consists of four flying squadrons:

[edit] History

The airfield at Nowra was originally used by squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force when it opened in 1942. In 1944, the need for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy for shore bases led to RAAF Nowra, due to its proximity to Jervis Bay, being transferred to the RN, being renamed HMS Nabbington. In this role the base supported the British Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers.

In 1947, the RAN's own Fleet Air Arm was formed, and the Nowra airfield was chosen to be its main shore base. HMAS Albatross was commissioned on August 31, 1948, with its first squadrons disembarking from the new Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney in May 1949. Over the course of the next decades, the RAN purchased larger, faster and more capable aircraft, which led to the facilities at Albatross being expanded - workshops and test facilities for jets were installed following the entry into service of the De Havilland Sea Venom in 1955, while a new control tower was built in 1958. The purchase of A-4 Skyhawks and S-2 Trackers with advanced avionics led to more facilities being installed to service them.

The Skyhawk and Tracker squadrons flew from the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne until the time it was decommissioned on 30 June 1982. This signalled the beginning of the end of the fleet air arm's front line fixed wing capabilities, and also a scaling back of activities at Albatross.

[edit] Today

Today, Albatross serves as home base for the four helicopter squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, and for the Navy Aviation Group, which coordinates all of the RAN's aviation activities. Albatross also has a number of lodger units:

Naval Weather and Oceanographic Centre (NWOC)
Training Authority – Aviation
Naval Aviation Systems Program Office (NASPO)
Australian Joint Acoustic Analysis Centre (AJACC)
RAN Tactical Electronic Warfare Support Section (RANTEWSS)
Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit (AMAFTU)
Army Parachute Training School (PTS)
T.S Shoalhaven (Navy cadet unit)

In addition, Albatross is the home of the Museum of Flight and the Royal Australian Navy Historic Flight.

The naval base had the unusual distinction of being shared by a small civilian passenger terminal, which at various times was operated by the Masling and later Hazleton airlines companies using small propellor driven aircraft. Until 2004, the Royal Australian Navy Gliding Association (RANGA) also operated from the runways at Albatross with a small fleet of gliders used by both Navy and civilian members.