RAAF Base Scherger

RAAF Base Scherger
Near Weipa, Queensland in Australia
Gate to RAAF Scherger
RAAF Base Scherger YBSG Location in Queensland
Coordinates	12°37′24″S 142°05′12″E / 12.62333°S 142.08667°E / -12.62333; 142.08667
Type	Military air base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defence
Operator	Royal Australian Air Force
Website	RAAF Base Scherger
Site history
In use	5 August 1998 (1998-08-05) – present
Garrison information
Occupants	'Bare base'
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: YBSG
Elevation	44 metres (145 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 12/30 3,049 metres (10,003 ft) Asphalt
Sources: AIP[1]

RAAF Base Scherger (ICAO: YBSG) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located approximately 26 km (16 mi) east of Weipa on the western side of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. One of three bare bases in a chain of bases across Australia's top end, the base is occupied by a caretaker staff and can be activated at relatively short notice. The base was constructed by troops drawn mainly from the 17th Construction Squadron, in what is believed to have been the biggest project undertaken by the Royal Australian Engineers at the time.

Opened on 5 August 1998 by the Prime Minister, John Howard,^[2] the base was named in honour of Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger who was the Australian Chief of the Air Staff (now known as Chief of Air Force) from March 1957 to May 1961^[3] and the equivalent of what is now Chief of the Defence Force from 1961 to 1966.