QAWW2: Queensland's Lost WW2 History & Photos

Background

QAWW2 is the acronym for my book "Queensland Airfields WW2 – 50 Years On". This was my original book and an attempt to document the ever-fading history of Queensland's military involvement in the air war against Japan during World War 2, with hundreds of photos, maps and drawings of Australian and US Air Force airfields, bases and camps.

The aim was to thoroughly address all of the WW2 airstrips of Queensland...show where they were, what they became and how, what Units were 'there', when and for how long...Recollections by veterans and others who were there, of 'what the place was like – then'.

Some of the story of the vital centres like Garbutt, Amberley, Archerfield and Eagle Farm, the frontier airfields from Iron Range to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the hastily prepared strips which in some cases were little, if ever, used by the Air Forces, as the war moved north.

Self published by my wife Jenny and I, back in 1994, the book is now sold out. But with so many enquiries, asking "when are you going to Re-Print?", we have since released the book on first CD-ROM, then a DVD and now on a USB mem stick. If you are interested, please e-mail us and register your interest.

If you missed the book and want to find out more about it, check out about QAWW2: The Book...

– Roger Marks

NEW Publications... Available Now!

With the passing of time, my focus has now shifted toward a series of photo publications documenting Queensland's WW2 history, featuring collections of forgotten photos from American and Australian archives...many of these are now ONLY available in pdf on USB.

Rockhampton – WW2 v Now Photo Booklet

Rockhampton WW2 v Now Booklet ...From an American Archives Perspective – New photo booklet featuring forgotten images of wartime Rockhampton taken by the US Army during WW2 and stored unseen in American archives for 80 years.

Browse booklet details...

QAWW2 Places on Google Earth New

Google Earth Overlay Google Earth Placemarks KMZ File – Map overlay which opens in your Google Earth application showing where all QAWW2 sites were located.

Find out more...

Cairns – WW2 v Now Photo Booklet

Cairns WW2 v Now Booklet ...From an American Archives Perspective – New photo booklet featuring stunning images of wartime Cairns taken by the US Army during WW2 and stored unseen in American archives for nearly 70 years.

Browse booklet details...

Brisbane – WW2 v Now Photo Booklets

Brisbane WW2 v Now Booklets

...From an American Archives Perspective – Series of 24 photo booklets launched to commemorate 'VP-60' illustrating wartime Brisbane. The booklets provide a photographic record of Brisbane's WW2 history contrasted to today's city.

Browse series details...

Other Booklets

Other Booklets

My other photo booklets include tour guides of WW2 airfields at:

Lockhart Coast (Iron Range, North Qld)
Eagle Farm - The War Years

Most of my photo-booklets are now ONLY available in 'pdf on USB'. Affordable prices and free postage within Australia.

Browse the complete publications catalogue...

Near Mareeba, Qld. 1944. CAC Boomerang Fighter Aircraft A46-126 of No. 5 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron RAAF. Photo: AWM

MY Projects

In addition to the books, I also have a number of associated projects/interests, some of these include:

Eagle Farm Airfield Hangar 7 Restoration Project

A project in conjunction with Brisbane City Council to restore Hangar 7 at the old Eagle Farm airfield and use it as a COMMUNITY Heritage Centre – the Eagle Farm COMMUNITY Heritage Centre. Hangar 7 was used by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit (ATAIU) during WW2 to investigate and rebuild captured Japanese aircraft for aircraft intelligence purposes. See some up-date on www.hangar7.org.au

Hangar 7 Museum Project

Bring Home The Images Project

The above booklets have all sprung from my background project –
To Bring Home The Images... from the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Bring Home the Images Project

Surname Search of NARA Images

Search my NARA Records Index – Photographer + USA & Australian names listed in photo captions. Search...

NARA Photo Surname Search

My Garage Sale – with a Difference!

It was on …Saturday 13 June 2015...and since then

I have been scanning to digital memory all my "years of interest and research" into Queensland Airfields WW2. This included many photos from veterans and many aerial photo prints which were costly to obtain. Once scanned, I was reluctant to simply "put them in the recycle bin along with several kgs of paper".

I felt SOMEONE out there may be interested to pay some nominal price for these, as a individual FOLDER (see EXCEL file link below) or the whole 20 folders.  Numbers of aerials totalled around 400 with sundry others (on-ground etc) around 550.

So I had a Garage Sale … with a Difference, on Saturday 13 June 2015.  Result was YES, an interested researcher was happy to make acceptable offer for “Black 1” and Blue 1, 2 & 3 folders.  Another researcher has since acquired Black 3 & 4. And lately, another researcher bought Black 2 and Blue 4

A good friend and AHSA Member has since, visited and bought ALL remaining folders. So, my aim of such photos avoiding the rubbish bin, has been achieved