In 1939, a captain of the Imperial Airways carried out a trans-Indian Ocean flight between Kenya and Australia to assess the feasibility of using the Cocos Islands as a halfway or emergency landing area for the Catalina flying boats. The area between Direction Island and Home Island was deemed suitable and was later marked with buoys for this purpose. A supply of aviation fuel was received by ship and stored on the islands, and the first Catalinas to make use of the facilities were from QANTAS and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC – later to become British Airways). They were quickly followed by regular flying boat services between Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Australia, and Africa and Australia.

The history of the airstrip on West Island dates back to 1945 when the British Royal Air Force stationed two squadrons on the Cocos Islands during World War II. The plan was to use Cocos as a base for operations against the Japanese in Malaya and Indonesia. However, the war ended before this could be carried out.

Original discussions about using the Cocos Islands as a strategic air wing post were held in 1942 when the War Cabinet Chiefs of Staff became concerned with the vulnerability of British bases in the Indian Ocean. It wasn’t until February 1944, however, that a surveying team visited and suggested that, given suitable equipment, three runways, dispersals and hard standings could be completed on Cocos Islands within 60 days by a Forward Airfield Construction Group. The construction of the Air Staging Post was given the name ‘Operation Pharos’ and classified top secret.

Serviceman clearing jungle during construction of the Cocos Island airstrip in 1945	Serviceman clearing jungle during construction of the Cocos Island airstrip in 1945

 

The first priority was to clear a road and commence work on the airstrip using bulldozers, graders and levellers so that a sufficient length of runway could be laid for Spitfires to become airborne. The Spitfires of No. 136 Squadron had been shipped across to Cocos Islands in crates from Ceylon then ferried onto shore and transported 6 miles to the airfield. Seven cargo ships were required to haul all of the necessary equipment to build the airstrip, roads and ports required for the Air Staging Post, with the first arriving on 22 March. In all, 6,263 personnel and 2,250 tons of stores were used to prepare the runway. Within five days of arriving on West Islands, 800 yards of strip was cleared and levelled, ready for the laying of pierced steel plating (PSP) over the crushed coral surface.

 

Spitfires of No.136 Squadon line up on runway. Cocos Island 1945		A Liberator takes off from the steel airstrip on Cocos Island 1945

 

By 22nd May 1945 the first phase of the main PSP runway had been completed, with the plans for a second runway cancelled. Instead of two 2,000 yard strips, it was decided to have one 3,500 yard strip. The taxiway and hard-standing areas were made of bitumenised Hessian laid over a thin coral coating and compressed sand. The first heavy aircraft, a Canso, landed on the same day without incident. Shortly thereafter, Liberator heavy bombers were a regular sight on the airfield.

Following the end of the war, Cocos Islands airfield played an important role in the evacuation of prisoners of war from Japanese prison camps. By the beginning of 1946, however, it had been decided that the islands be abandoned by the RAF. Final evacuation of personnel, equipment and stores was completed by 19th April 1946.

The airstrip was then left to languish until, in late 1946, Australia’s Qantas airline developed plans to upgrade the airstrip so that it could be used as a refuelling stopover for its new international air service between Australia and South Africa.

 

At the time, Cocos Islands was under the governance of Singapore. Permission to rebuild the RAF strip and provide adequate facilities for Qantas was sought of the Singapore authorities by the Australian government. This necessitated the purchase of land on West Island by the Australian government, a total of (approx.) 104 hectares. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) No 2 Construction Squadron were dispatched to carry out the work, which had an estimated cost of £750,000. The 464-strong squadron arrived on the Cocos Islands on 19 December 1951, with work on the new strip commencing on 9 February 1952. Over £1,000,000 worth of materials, equipment and supplies were sent over on the British freighter Palikonda to aid the construction.

Before grading of the new strip area was possible, the old PSP steel matting had to be lifted and removed. This task was performed by hand and was back breaking work. By mid April, only 2000 of the 7500ft of PSP matting had been removed. The ingenious Squadron Engineer Officer then devised a ‘can opener’ which was attached to the back end of a tractor resulting in the removal of the remaining runway by the end of April. Once the old runway was ripped up, they commenced building up the new runway by 10 inches with crushed coral. This involved moving 102,000 cubic yards of earth and 72,000 cubic yards of crushed coral. The new 10,000 foot (3048 metre) runway was completed six weeks ahead of schedule by 26 July 1952. The squadron also constructed a complex of buildings and roads needed for the airport, including upgrading the control tower for use by the Department of Civil Aviation, officers mess and passenger hotel (now the Tropica Restaurant and Cocos Beach Motel).

RAF Tower		Officers Mess

 

During construction, a Flight-Lieutenant was seriously injured with skull fractures and multiple injuries and had to be evacuated back to RAAF base Pearce in Perth. A long-range Lancaster bomber was dispatched and landed on the old hard standing as the perforated steel plate runway was unserviceable. The hard standing, located beside the PSP runway, was constructed from a type of jute matting impregnated with bituminous emulsion. Once the patient was settled on board, the plane returned to Perth where the injured flight-lieutenant made a full recovery.

Whilst the airfield was under construction, Qantas operated a courier service each fortnight supplying mail and RAAF personnel. A Qantas Lancastrian from Sydney bound for Singapore was diverted via Perth to the Cocos Islands. The first Qantas courier flight left Sydney on 31 January 1952 and the last flight arrived on the Cocos Islands on 14 August 1952. A total of 16 courier flights were undertaken during this time.

In September 1952, Qantas commenced its fortnightly Australia-South Africa service using Lockheed Constellation aircraft carrying up to 60 passengers at a time. The service departed Sydney and stopped over at Perth, the Cocos Islands and Mauritius before reaching Johannesburg. South African Airways inaugurated its regular Johannesburg-Perth service, via Mauritius and the Cocos Islands, in November 1957 using DC 7B aircraft.

The Qantas service ceased in the 1960’s to be replaced by a B727 charter flight operated by TAA in the early 1970’s. This service operated once every 3 weeks. From the mid 1980’s to 1992, Australian Airlines took over the charter service with a fortnightly B737 flight which arrived around midnight every second Tuesday. All the locals stayed up to welcome this important link to the mainland, with a regular charter radio show to keep them awake and up to date.

From March to October in 1992, Indian Ocean Airlines (using leased Ansett planes) ran a twice weekly service. The 4th September 1993 saw the inaugural Ansett Regular Public Transport service commence into Cocos Islands. This twice weekly service operated until the late 1990’s when it was then taken over by Qantas (briefly) and later by National Jet Systems in mid 2000. The twice weekly format has remained, although there have been many amendments to the days and times that it operates over the years.

The Department of Civil Aviation (later to be known as the Civil Aviation Authority) had a presence on Cocos since the Qantas Constellation flights in 1952. Located in the old tower (opposite the current Golf Club Donga building), it was instrumental in operating a controlled tower in addition to flight services. Flight services closed its operation on Cocos at 0900UTC on 26 March 1992.

Following the departure of the Department of Civil Aviation in 1992, the old control tower was used as school class rooms for the Cocos Islands District High School. The building was eventually razed in the early 1990’s.

Acknowledgements:

Cocos (Keeling) Islands Historical Society Inc. Click here to view there website.

Permission to use WWII airfield construction photographs kindly granted by Woodfield Publishing www.woodfieldpublishing.com Photographs are from their publication ‘Operation Pharos’ by Ken Rosam (ISBN 1-873202-58-6).