Cootamundra

13 On 30th April 1942 the Department of the Interior and the Air Board inspected the Cootamundra site and decided to start site extensions and begin land acquisition from local residents Mrs Ward and a Mr F J Haisall. Located at the north-west end of the depot, well away from the road, Tanks 4 and 5 were identical in size, measuring 58 feet (17.7 metres) in diameter and 19.5 feet in height (5.94 metres). Both were installed in an excavated pit and completely covered over, with spoil repacked around the tanks to a height of 2.5 feet (0.76 metres) above the roof serving the dual functions of blast-proofing and camouflage. These larger storage units were accessed by a covered passage at the bottom of the tanks providing access to the valves and pipework. In addition to larger pipes for filling and emptying, water and foam pipes serviced the underground tanks. At 300,000 gallon capacity, the new tanks were large enough to hold enough fuel to send a 747 jet from Sydney to Tokyo and back eight to nine times over. And given the fuel consumption of piston driven aircraft at the time, these tanks would have held months of stock for the surrounding airfields or mobile troops. The revised date for filling the first new large tank was 30 December 1942 with the second on 7 January 1943 but how much use they got is yet to be established. UNDERGROUND TANK 4 UNDERGROUND TANK 5 Section through underground tank blue print for pit cover and pit. National Archives of Australia Top of underground tank (4 or 5) Site plan of No.3 IADF at Cootamundra. National Archives of Australia