. A
Hurricane Mk.IV KZ188 of
No. 6 Squadron RAF is being refuelled by the attending bowser, 1944.|alt= dispersal. An
Avro Lancaster Mk.III of
No. 49 Squadron RAF is guided to its dispersal point at
RAF Fiskerton in Lincolnshire, after returning at night from a raid on Berlin, 22 November 1943.|alt= at Seven Mile Airfield,
Port Moresby, New Guinea, August, 1942.|alt= In respect of
military aviation, dispersal of aircraft, especially
fighter and
bomber aircraft, was historically a very common strategy of planning, construction and operation of military
aerodromes and
airbases. Original military aerodromes would store their aircraft (when not being operated) in one or more large co-located facilities such as aircraft
hangars; however, these were highly visible and therefore vulnerable easy prey for attacking forces; The United States military utilised semi-circular covered shelters, albeit with an open front, with the distinctive appearance or style of half an
igloo. Notable examples of these individual aircraft shelters are found at the former
Marine Corps Air Station Ewa in Hawaii; they were constructed after many parked aircraft were destroyed during the Japanese raid on
Pearl Harbor. Further evolution of protection for dispersed aircraft resulted in the
hardened aircraft shelter (HAS); effectively, a reinforced 'mini hangar' constructed of high-grade reinforced concrete with heavy-grade steel doors. A hardened aircraft shelter can typically accommodate two fighter aircraft, along with all required ground support equipment needed to facilitate the preparation for flight of said aircraft. Most hardened aircraft shelters (especially those constructed to
NATO standards) are able to be hermetically sealed, thereby offering protection against ingress of any
chemical and / or
biological weapon. Other notable examples of airbase dispersal include the
Swedish Air Force's
Bas 60 and later
Bas 90 system.
Aircraft weapons storage The storage of
aircraft weapons on an
airbase requires their dispersal away from workplace and accommodation locations of base personnel. The
weapon storage area (WSA), also known as the 'bomb dump' in British military parlance, would typically be located in a remote area (often as far as physically possible) away from all other buildings and structures of an airbase, and consisted of a number of small protective bunkers, contained by security fences and access-limited gates. In a further development,
hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) were also able to facilitate dispersal for aircraft munitions, when a
Weapons Storage and Security System (WSSS) vault, also known as Weapon Security and Survivability System (WS3), were constructed within the floor of the HAS, and enabled the safe and secure storage of
tactical nuclear bombs for use on aircraft within the HAS. This facility enabled the functions of weapons dispersal together with the operational requirement of
quick reaction alert (QRA), whereby armed aircraft were required to be available in a state of high preparedness, allowing the QRA aircraft to be launched or 'scrambled' within a very short timeframe. The WSSS / WS3 eliminated the need for transporting of live lethal weapons by road vehicles from their remote weapon storage area to the required
bomber aircraft. ==Gallery==