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Location
Lat
9° 0' 0S Long 161° 0' 0E Malaita Island located
is located to the the north-east of Guadalcanal.
Prewar
American explorer Jack London visited Malaita in 1908, but fled in disgust from fierce storms and head hunters.
Wartime History
There was little wartime activity on Mailaita Island, but both sides established small outpost stations on the island and the US Navy briefly had a seplane tender operating in the southeast. Several Japanese and Allied aircraft crashed on the island during the war. The Americans
hired Malaitan people to work on Guadalcanal building airfields and military infrastructure, because they were hard workers. Rivalry
between
the
people of Guadalcanal and Malaita islands during and
after the war years.
Laulasi Island
Coral artificial island created in the 1600s by an uplift. Bombed by American aircraft during the opening phase of the Guadalcanal campaign of August 1942, mistaken as a Japanese ship. 27 villagers were bombed and killed
by F4F Wildcats. Since then, there has been a long running compensation claim by the descendent of Americans.
Malu'u
Lat
8° 20' 60S Long 160° 37' 60E Village on the coast along Cape Astolabe
The engine
was removed from the plane not long after it crashed.
D3A1 Model 11 Val
Pilot Hikiune crashed August 24, 1942
Afufu
Lat
8° 20' 60S Long 160° 34' 0E Village
Japanese Coastwatcher Station
Japanese established a small coastwatcher station
near the village of Afufu. They were all
wiped out on November 5, 1942 when a landing part of 2nd
Marines attacked them.
PV-1
Ventura Bureau
Number 4578
Crashed May 28, 1945 pilot Graham
Maramasike Passage
Located at the southeastern corner of the island. On August 6, 1942 torpedo bombers from USS Saratoga CV-3 overflew Maramasike and Takataka Bay and found them unoccupied. Seaplane tender USS Mackinac navigated this passage without charts and proceeded to Takataka Bay.
Takataka Bay
Bay located at the southeastern corner of the island. On August 6, 1942 torpedo bombers from USS Saratoga overflew Maramasike and Takataka Bay and found them unoccupied. Seaplane tender USS Mackinac arrived and began operating a nine plane detachment of VP-23 PBY Catalinas on August 8, 1942. After the US Navy defeat during the Battle of Savo Island Mackinac departed on August 12, 1942 for Espiritu Santo.
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Last Updated
January 14, 2010
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