Horn Island Airport | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Operator | Torres Shire Council | ||||||||||||||
Location | Horn Island, Queensland | ||||||||||||||
Hub for | Torres Strait Air | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 43 ft / 13 m | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 10°35′08″S142°17′34″E / 10.58556°S 142.29278°E /-10.58556; 142.29278 | ||||||||||||||
Maps | |||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Horn Island Airport (IATA:HID,ICAO:YHID) is a minorinternational airport onHorn Island in theTorres Strait,Queensland, Australia. Domestic fixed wing charter flights and scheduled flights are carried out by SkyTrans, Hinterland Aviation, Cape Air Transport, Horizon Airways, and Torres Strait Air. The only International services are carried out byTorres Strait Air, with charter flights toPapua New Guinea.
TheCivil Constructional Corps and theDepartment of Main Roads began construction of an advanced operational airbase on the island duringWorld War II, commencing in 1940. RAAF Base Horn Island was completed in 1941 and was used as a staging base forAllied aircraft moving between Australia andNew Guinea.[2] The airfield consisted of two intersecting runways, withrevetments for aircraft parking.
AfterDarwin, Horn Island was the second-most bombed area of Australia by the Japanese in World War II.[3]
The Horn Island Veterans Memorial in front of the airport commemorates the American and Australian servicemen who fought and died in the defence of Horn Island and the Torres Strait during World War II. It was designed by Vanessa Seekee OAM and Gordon Cameron OAM from local materials.[4]