The MONAB Story

A history of the mobile airfields of the Royal Navy



Mobile Naval Air Base No. II gallery

Images from the private collections of Sub-Lt. M. Price RNVR, Leading Air Fitter (E) D. Hooper, Air Fitter (E) B. Robinson, Air Mechanic (O) J. Dixey, Air Mechanic (E) R. Playford, Air Fitter (Ai) L. Buckingham, Aircraft Artificer 4th Class (E) L. Russell. Imperial War Museums images appear under non-commercial licence

Most of these images are sized to fit the screen, however where possible those containing groups of personnel will open large enough to see individuals. Many, but not all, of these images are available in larger, high-res versions and copies can be supplied upon receipt of a photo request.  If you have pictures or other memorabilia that you can contribute to this project please contact the Webmaster using the Offer of assistance form.

 The Royal Navy Research Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License See our terms of use for conditions regarding using these images in other works.

 

 

RNAS Bankstown aerial shot taken on September 12th  1945. There is much activity around the hangars  but few serviceable aircraft in the park compared to earlier photos.
RNAS Bankstown looking to the Southeast, note the hangar under construction and the aircraft park in the distance.,
RNAS Bankstown looking to the east, note the hangar under construction. The aircraft park is out of shot in the top sright corner.
Aircraft park looking to the northwest. Serviceable aircraft arranged in in neat rows. New arrivals, stripped of engines, wings and tail planes and preserved in Eronell for shipping, are parked in rows parallel to the road.
View of the aircraft park looking further to the northwest. Reliant, Sea Otter and Vengeance can be seen in this shot. The crates visible on the right in both shots contain engines, wings and tail planes for the preserved airframes.
Operational Corsairs fitted with centreline drop tanks. These are probably aircraft withdrawn when a squadron had disbanded
View down the rows of newly arrived preserved airframes, encased in Eronell they have no engines, wings or tail planes.
An aircraft handling party devisers a newly completed Firefly to the aircraft park, possibly to await it’s check test flight.
Unknown group, possibly part of the aircraft erection component tasked with retrieving and returning airframes to & from the aircraft park. .
Unknown group, possibly the men of the aircraft erection component.
Men of the stores department at Bankstown in early 1946.
R.N. and R.A.A.F. personnel who formed the R.N.A.S. Bankstown test flight, Summer 1945 STANDING - From Left: 1) TAG Macintosh 2) Self (S/Lt. Michael Price) 3) N/k 4) N/k 5) Lt.Cdr - N/k 6) Lt.Cdr. Roy Dence [Cdr.(F)] 7) F/Lt. Geoff Schaeffer - (O.I.C. test flight.) 8) F/Lt. 'Jerry' Myers 9) F/Lt. Ron Rae 10) F/O. Lyie Holtkamp 11) S/Lt. Rex Smith 12) N/k 13) N/k 14) N/k. KNEELING - From left: 1) F/O. Clem Schmitzer - later Cdr. RAN 2) F/Lt. Lester Henning 3) F/Lt. 'Glbby' Gibaon 4) F/O. Ken Lockley
Three members of the MONAB II test flight maintenance crew, Leading Air Fitter (Engines) Bruce Robinson is sitting on the Seafire wing.
Aircraft Artificer 4th Class (Electrical) Laurence Russell, part of the unit’s electrical section, poses with a Seafire at Bankstown
The personnel of 724 Communications squadron with one of their Expeditor aircraft.
Members of 205 mess at RNAS Bankstown.
Members of 205 mess at RNAS Bankstown.
Members of 205 mess at RNAS Bankstown.
Members of 205 mess at RNAS Bankstown.
Air Fitter (Engines) Douglas Hooper (Center) and two colleagues ashore in Sydney
The Governor General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester inspects the honour guard during his visit to RNAS Bankstown.
The Governor General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, accompanied by Commander E.. P. F. Atkinson the commanding officer, is introduced to the senior officers during his visit to RNAS Bankstown.
The Governor General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, accompanied by Commander E.. P. F. Atkinson the commanding officer, during his visit to RNAS Bankstown.
© IWM (A 29370) The Governor General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester inspecting a Hellcat as it was being serviced during his visit to RNAS Bankstown.
© IWM (A 29371) The Governor General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester firing the guns of Seafire PR151 on the test butts during his visit to RNAS Bankstown.
Browning .303 machine gun log for weapon fitted in the Port wing of Seafire PR151 (wrongly signed on last page) test fired by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the Governor-General of Australia.
Browning .303 machine gun log for weapon fitted in the Port wing of Seafire PR151 (wrongly signed on last page) test fired by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the Governor-General of Australia.
Browning .303 machine gun log for weapon fitted in the Port wing of Seafire PR151 (wrongly signed on last page) test fired by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the Governor-General of Australia.
Browning .303 machine gun log for weapon fitted in the Port wing of Seafire PR151 signed ‘Harry’ by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the Governor-General of Australia after he test fired it during a visit to the station.

 

 

 

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Topic: HMS Nabberley Gallery
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Peter Luxton
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Apr 2023
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Peter Luxton (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) says...

My father, Arthur Luxton was a British photographer stationed at HMS Nabberley between Nov 44 and Nov 45 as part of MONAB 11

I am trying to put together a history of his war service any help would be appreciated

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