Location
Located at Tami, to the south of Skomabo village and to the west of the Tami River.

Construction
Built by the Japanese, this airfield was 4,800' single runway (as of March 21, 1944). There are no known Japanese operations from this strip. It reached serviceable condition, but was not fully in use prior to the attack by US Army on April 12, 1944.

Capture by Americans
Two Alamo scout teams entered the area on D+2 (April 24, 1944) a sizable party of missionaries and Japanese prisoners was liberated at Goya nearby, and were questioned and evacuated. On April 27 1944, reinforcements of the G Company of the 162nd Infantry arrived to clear the area. Security was established for engineering units found it more or less complete (by Japanese not US standards).

The US Army finished the construction of the airfield. On May 1 1944, enemy snipers became very active and additional US forces cleared the area with vigorous paroling. By May 3, a 3,800' runway was completed and ready for use with transport planes. The wreckage of at least one Japanese aircraft wreck was present at the strip [radio recovered].

American Usage
It was extended to 4000' and used extensively for cargo C-47 operation, at its height several hundred take offs and landings per day to bring in cargo to get Hollandia Drome ready for use operations. Due to its swampy location further development was abandoned.

Today
This airstrip is disused since the war.

References
Thanks to Richard Dunn for additional information.

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009