The Lae Scrapyard
Scrap metal dealing in Lae

Scrap Dealing in Papua New Guinea
Report from Peter Weaver, Arizona USA
"Last month a local scrap dealer in Lae, Papua New Guinea, shipped in by barge a vast amount of WW2 Allied aircraft wreckage from where it was buried SWW of the coastal town of Finschafen in 1945. Most wreckage is largely unrecognizable, including large globules of of smelted aluminum. The new scrapyard is about six feet high and occupies about half a soccer field. However, there are clearly visible and recognizable aircraft components as well, including stainless steel ammunitions belts, turbocharger ducting, Liberator and A-20 gun turrets, complete A-20 tail sections, elevators, rudders, servo units and undercarriage legs from all kinds of USAAF aircraft.

The owner, from a village near Lae, is Francis Poringi who last month went to Port Moresby and asked the National Museum for approval to scrap the pile. He was instructed not to, but on the other hand customs officers have told him he cannot export the parts either. Poringi will now proceed to scrap the material, as he did with a similar collection last year. It is possible that Poringi has undertaken the excavation under the instructions of a businessman in Melbourne who has previously recovered poor condition P-38's and P-47's from the same burial place at Finschafen. If this is the case, then Poringi has probably recovered the wreckage in anticipation of exporting it, but has run out of money or permission, and left Mr Poringi with the unsightly public spectacle. The scrapyard is on Unitech road with no fence around it and has become highly visible. The potential scapping of this material is a disgrace, and reveals again a lack of political will in PNG to deal with so-called 'scrap' merchants.

Scrap Pile Report
Report from Malcom Black, Australia
"The pile of scrap at Lae was gathered illegally by a PNG national. This angered several Australians working for Melbourne businessman who have been quietly exporting aircraft wreckage from PNG for the past several years, including buried wreckage at Finshhafen. They had permission from the National Museum to do this, and they have been selling the aircraft and components in the United States.

There are major aggrieved parties in all of this who are trying to prevent the scrapping proceed, and they have issued a court order against the PNG national. There is much bitterness here, which goes back to a legal fight over a recovered P-38 from Faita several years ago. Leahy was the clear loser.

There are lies and deception everywhere, but the bottom line is that the operation is being done for profit, regardless of what the PNG authorities are being told. The option at present seems to be that the items are either scrapped or sold to highest bidder.

Several of the Australians have been threatened by landowners for refusing to pay compensation. Either way the wrecks lose."