Segi Airfield (Seghe Point)

Western Province | Solomons

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October 19, 1943
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December 10, 1943
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c1943
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1988 via Rocker
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Paul Sodemann, 1999

 

Location
Located at the southern tip of New Georgia Island, along Panga Bay and the Njai Pass to the north-east. Located at the mouth of the Morovo Lagoon.

Construction
Construction of a crushed coral strip was begun by a survey party from USN Acorn 7 (47th CB Battalion (Seabee) landed on January 21, 1943. By July 10, 1943, they had built a 3,000' x 300' single runway running roughly east to west for limited operations and as an emergency landing field, only 40 miles from Munda. Taxiwas and ravetments were built to the north and south of the runway. This strip became the main Allied airstrip on New Georgia until the liberation of Munda.

American Units based at Segi (partial list)
925th AAA AW BN
47th Construction Battalion, C company
VF-38 (12 x F6F) October 1943 - ?
VF-40 (12 x F6F) October 1943 - ?
VF-33 (24 x F6F) Nov 1 - Nov 29, 1943

Veteran Frank Ruscavage recalls:
"I served on Segi point in 1944. Navy Seabee's constructed the airbase, I was with the 925th AAA AW BN. The Navy planes that flew from Segi were SBD bombers & Gruman Corsairs, I believe there were called 'the flying duck'. The Japs on Bouganville made a counter push to recapture the air field, they got pretty close of doing so, all planes were ordered to different airfields in the region, the P-38's to Segi, the airfield on Segi was long enough to land the plane but they had to touch down at the very beginning of the strip, the 1st three planes didn't and went into the water, the other planes (about 12) landed safely. The month was I think was in June 1944."

Don Anderson reports:
“My father [47th Construction Battalion, C company] helped build the airstrip at Seghe Point in WWII, all the veterans call Segi Point, pronouncing it 'Seegee'. I visited there in the summer of 1993. I left a plaque with a picture of the landing, CB Logo, info, and papers on the back with the names of the 47th Seabees at the small police outpost by the end of the strip. I landed on the strip and went to Uepi. I came back in motorized canoe and dove on the P-38. It was right where my dad said it would be. However, the said the P-38’s were trying to land and the runway was short for them. The first made it but the second ran into the back of it and pushed it into the water. I think this can be verified. Look at the back of the P-38. It is bent under. This would be where the other plane hit it. My dad said the planes were running out of fuel trying to get back to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The tower told them the runway was too short for them. A P-38 radioed back that it was try or land in the ocean. The tower told them to come on. I have many photographs my dad took, but no scanner. The pilot quarters were down by the water. The rest were up on the hill along with the guns. I found some buried barrels on the hill. I took pictures and video. I got laughed at when I got home. They would put an outhouse over these buried drums. When they got full, They put the top on it and moved the outhouse somewhere else. You will notice that there is a dugout area closed to the strip. This was a dug officer swimming pool. I notice canoes are docked inside it now to get off the ocean. I think they used marston mat on a hole in the side for the water to go in and out. My dad said this was so an officer didn’t get attacked by a shark. He said they swam and bathed in the ocean. A shark wouldn’t eat an enlisted man.”

Today
It is still used by Solomon Airlines, the crushed coral strip is still used, overgrown with grass.

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Map
October 15, 1943

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