Location
Located
inland from Awar Plantaion, between Condor Point and Awar
Point along Hansa Bay.
The northen most strip, Nubia
Airfield is located
to the south.
Japanese Occupation
Built by the
Japanese, this airfield was a single runway 4,000' x 180'. A single taxiway look ran the length of the
runway, several heavy AA batteries were loacted
near Condor Point. It was a refueling base or "operational airfield" for the Japanese Army Air Force.
Japanese Units Based At Awar
208th Sentai (Ki-48) November 1943
248th Sentai (Ki-43) November 1943 a refueling base
Only one 248th pilot landed there in
November 1943. He apparently left his a/c behind because
he was hospitalized at Wewak 4 days later. Allied photo
coverage but in late Dec 43 only 3 fighters were spotted
on each. Thanks to Richard Dunn's Hansa
Bay History for
additional historicial information.
American Missions Against Awar
August 25, 1943 - May 4, 1944
Australian Liberation
The airfield area was occupied by Australian Army forces in June 14, 1944.
RAAF Use as Emergency Strip
There are at least two instances of RAAF aircraft using the strip to land.
A Boomerang, flown by F/O N.L. Oliver killed in June 1944 attempted an
emergency landing, but collided with a deralict aircraft on the overgrown
strip causing him to crash and aircraft to burn. On February 9, 1945 A
Boomerang, QE-A flown by F/L C.A. Phillips was flying a tactical reconnassnace
mission over the Sepik. His engine began to overheat. He successfully landed
at Awar, and his plane was guarded by members of the 5th Australian Division
30th Battalion (Sepik Force). After two days, a 4 Squadron engine fitter
was flown to repair the oil cooler, and the Boomerang's fuel tanks were
topped off with abandoned Japanese aviation fuel! Australian forces then
reoccupied the area in
June
1944.
Postwar Use and Abandonment
The field
was abandonded after the war, then put back into civilian
service,
used until 1982 then abandoned.
Today
Airfield is overgrown
with kunai grass.
Justin Taylan adds:
"There is little evidence of
any bombing, probably because it was cleaned
up and used until 1982. Locals talked about another
engine in the kunai grass but we were unable to locate
it."
John Douglas adds:
"We found two revetments on the other side of the Awar
strip, built for bombers."
References
Richard Dunn's Hansa
Bay History for additional information.
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