Location
Located on Pityilu Island.
Construction
Single runway built by
the US Navy.
Wartime History
Used by the US Navy for a brief period while we were there to practice
carrier landings in early eve and after dark. Later turned
over the the Royal Navy, and along with nearby Pityilu Airstrip were
their only airbases in the South West Pacific area.
Units Based on Pityilu
ACORN 28
CASU 42 (and at Ponam Airfield)
CASU 13 (and at Ponam Airfield)
William
Strong, 140th CB recalls:
"One time it accepted some large number of aircraft
which stopped for service. I presume they were replacement
aircraft. The planes were the Grumman TBF. type - some F6F's.
Other aircraft were twin engined planes, B-25's I think . Not
numerous but they did fly patrols in the area. I went on one
of these flights as a 'guest' pretty boring as visibility from
within was not good."
Robert Downer, ACORN 28 adds:
"I was stationed on Pityilu from May 1944 to June 1945 then
on Los Negros."
H.R. Langeishe adds (via Aeroplane Monthly,
June 2005):
"I served on the Fleet Air Arm on Naval Air Stations in Australia
from 1944 - 1946. The task [of dumping aircraft] was huge
and involved the clearance of of reserve aircraft held at
Ponam and Pityilu, the two forward Royal Navy airstrips of
Manus Base. The two airstrips were cleared using lighters
to ships anchored offshore and te aircraft were dumped into
the ocean there. This went on through March or April 1946.
Not only were complete aircraft consigned to the deep, but
engines and spares too."
Contribute
Information
Do you have photos or additional information?
|
