Location
Lat
2° 32' 60S Long 133° 25' 0E Located on the southern
shore of Maccluer Gulf at Babo. This strip is located in an isolated low-lying
swamp area,
Construction
Built by the Dutch prewar, it was the final stop for
KLM airlines in Dutch New Guinea.
Wartime
Use By Allies
An RAAF engineering party with the assistance of
the Dutch upgraded the airstrip for military use November,
1941. First attacked by Japanese H6K Emilys on December
30, 1941, leaving 3 dead and 14 wounded, including a number of children. Three RAAF 13th Squadron Hudson bombers were sent
there to act as 'fighters', this temporary duty was regarded
to be against enemy flying boats while the Dutch KNIL garrison
of approximately 200 rushed to improve area defenses and create
a clearing for a second runway.
Allied
Units At Babo
(RAAF) 13th Squadron (3 x Hudson) January 1942
Japanese
Occupation & Use During WWII
The Japanese 2nd Detachment landed at Babo on April
2, 1942 and occupied the town. Most of the Dutch soldiers escaped
to Australia. The airfield
was developed into a major base used by both Japanese Army
and Navy units in the Vogelkop Peninsula, staging to other
airfields to the south Aru and Kai Islands or east to New
Guinea.
The Japanese built a second 'hardtop' runway creating
two strips of 4,530' and 2,660' respectively. Naval
troops constructed 15 bomber and 24 fighters with more
under construction. The base largely escaped any Allied
bombing until mid-1943.
Japanese
Units Based At Babo
202nd Kokutai (formally 3rd Kokutai - Zeros) early 1943 - March 1944
311th Hikotai of the 153 Kokutai - (A6M3-5 Zeros)
753rd & 732nd Kokutai - Betty (possibly based)
JAAF 7th Air Division
61st Sentai (Ki-49 Helen)
24th Sentai, 1st Chutai (Ki-43-II Oscar) Sumatra May 1943 to Dagua
34th Sentai (Ki-48) 1943
59th Sentai (Ki-43-II detachment) Malang 3-43 - 4-43 to But
70th & 73rd Dokuritsu
Chutai (Ki-45 Nick)
45th Sentai (Ki-45 Nick) 16 arrive February 19, 1944 to Wakde
75th Sentai (Ki-48 Lily)
25th Special Base Unit (Betty & Topsy Transports)
Allied Missions
Against Babo
February 7, 1943 - November 5, 1944
Losses & Neutralization
From The Air
The
aerial units based at Babo opposed the American landings
at Biak, but suffered heavy losses. The
24th Sentai lost 20 pilots and 40 planes while
based at Babo in only 30 days then were withdrawn. The 202nd Kokutai was temporarily
withdrawn from Babo for defense of Truk, then returned
to Babo in June 1944. They lost 12 planes defending Biak,
and were then disbanded.
By
mid-1944, the base was in range of medium bombers and
strafers from the 5th Air Force, and came under heavy attack. Neutralized
from the air around October 1944, and never liberated
by Allied forces. Tons of American and Australian bombs hit
airfield. Many of its aircraft were destroyed by parafrag
bombs. Japanese ground crews even sawed off the engines
from wrecked planes, in a desperate attempt to ward off further
attacks, and used hulks to fill in bomb craters. Isolated
from resupply or rescue, the remaining Japanese occupied
the area until the end of the war.
Post War
The airfield remained relatively undisturbed after the war
by the Dutch, Indonesians or visitors until the 1970's, when
many aircraft survived in remarkably intact condition, even
instrument panels and guns. Also 25mm AA guns,
are scattered around the field.
Word circulated about excellent
wrecks there, and brought in salvagers. The best
and most complete wrecks were removed before export laws could be enforced by the Indonesian government. The Indonesian
Air Force Museum recovered a Ki-48 Lilly in the 1980s for their museum.
In 1991 Bruce Fenstermaker salvaged the remains of a G4M1
Betty 1208 and A6M3 Zero 3869 and
pieces of other Japanese fighters for Santa
Monica Museum of Flight.
Contemporary
Developments
The airstrip is still in limited use by Mapita Airlines. In late 2002 BP began
upgrading the airfield and clearing WWII ordinance to build a gas drill rig
just off the airstrip. This resulted in the discovery of a mixture of 1000,500,250
and 100 pound bombs. This new development and increased development in the
Babo area will undoubtedly lead to more discoveries in the area.
John
Friar participated in the bomb cleanup:
"[The bombs we discovered were fitted
with a] British lifting lug, they were also fitted
with two lifting lugs at 180 degrees to the British
one.This indicates that they were modified to be
dropped by American aircraft that all use the two
lifting lug system.This is confirmed by the fact
that most of the fuses fitted were American. Two
of the 250 pound bombs were fitted with a very
early design British fuse, certainly dating to
very early 30s."
Bas Kereger reports:
"Max Ammer was very sad [after visiting], as what he had seen in 1995 was
completely demolished in the enlargement of the airfield for BP. What is
left is just a junkyard. There are several interesting pieces in that junkyard." |
