Works on the airfield were initially undertaken by the 43rd Engineer Regiment (US Army) in April 1942.

With the Northern Territory being subjected to the occasional Japanese air raid at the time, it was decided to disperse the operational squadrons over several airfields.

Other missions included disruption of enemy sea channels; dropping photoflash bombs and propaganda pamphlets.

On 12 June 2010, the airfield's operations centre and abattoir was listed on the Northern Territory Heritage Register.

[2] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency