The Commonwealth gazetted 882 acres near Ipswich on 12 December 1938, and the station opened in June 1940 with No. 24 Squadron as its first unit. Wikipedia records the area’s earlier name as Jeebropilly, which it links to the local flood plain; no translation is offered here.

The Pacific war changed Amberley’s role. From May 1942 it became an aircraft assembly and repair centre, and in 1942–1943 it was one of the main bases of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia. On 15 September 1942 Company E of the US 126th Infantry Regiment was flown 1,293 miles from Amberley to Port Moresby, an operation Wikipedia describes as the first airlift of troops into combat. The base returned to RAAF control after the war, in 1947 according to Wikipedia.

In 1948 Amberley became the home of the RAAF’s bombers. No. 1 Squadron was re-established here with Avro Lincolns and No. 6 Squadron was formed on 23 February 1948 by renaming No. 23 Squadron; both belonged to No. 82 Wing. After its Malayan Emergency service No. 1 Squadron came home in July 1958 and re-equipped with GAF-built Canberra B.20s.

The replacement was ordered on 24 October 1963: 24 F-111Cs for US$125 million. The aircraft’s structural problems delayed delivery for years, and in 1970 the United States leased Australia 24 F-4E Phantoms, delivered in September and October 1970, which flew from Amberley until June 1973; 23 went back, one having been lost. The first F-111Cs reached Amberley in 1973 (No. 6 Squadron’s history gives 1 June).

The F-111 gave Australia a strike aircraft that could reach targets far to its north, and Amberley became synonymous with it. Four aircraft were converted to RF-111C reconnaissance jets in 1979–1980, and 15 ex-USAF F-111Gs were bought in the 1990s. The cost was real: seven F-111Cs and one F-111G were lost between 1977 and 1999, killing 10 aircrew. No. 1 Squadron’s history counts three of its own crashes, in August 1979 (crew survived), January 1986 and September 1993 (both crews killed).

The fuel tanks caused a different tragedy. Workers in the deseal/reseal programmes, who stripped and resealed the tanks in poor conditions, reported lasting health damage including brain injury; Wikipedia says the government paid over A$20 million in compensation after a class action. No. 1 Squadron stopped flying the F-111 in January 2009 and No. 6 Squadron’s aircraft were retired in a ceremony at Amberley on 3 December 2010. Because of asbestos in the airframes, 23 were buried at the Swanbank landfill near Ipswich on 21–24 November 2011; six survive in museums.

The F-111’s replacement was the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. No. 1 Squadron received its aircraft between 26 March 2010 and 21 October 2011 and was operational on 8 December 2011. In September 2014 eight Super Hornets deployed to the Middle East for Operation Okra, flying their first strike on 9 October, according to Wikipedia.

No. 6 Squadron gave up its interim Super Hornets in November 2016 and became the EA-18G Growler squadron; the last Growler was delivered on 7 July 2017 and the force reached initial operating capability on 30 April 2019. One Growler burst into flames on take-off at Nellis during Red Flag on 28 January 2018 and was written off; a replacement arrived in February 2023. Alongside them Amberley houses the air mobility fleet: the C-17As of No. 36 Squadron, which moved from Richmond in November 2006, the KC-30A tankers of No. 33 Squadron and the C-27Js of No. 35 Squadron.

That mix is why the Air Force calls Amberley Defence’s largest operational air base. Wikipedia puts it at about 1,600 hectares with more than 5,000 uniformed and civilian staff, and records that it was one of only two Australian airfields designated as a Space Shuttle transoceanic abort landing site, the other being Darwin. The ERSA lists two runways, 15/33 and 04/22, which Wikipedia gives as 3,047 m and 1,523 m long. Civil aircraft need a written request at least 48 hours ahead.