Location
Located inland along the Pongani
River near the village of Pongani on the north coast of New Guinea.
Construction
A single grass runway built on kunai field at Pongani by the Americans in
late October 1942, to support the Buna / Gona Campaign.
Wartime Usage
The first aircraft to land at the strip was C-47 "Swamp Rat" 41-38678 on November 7, 1942. It became temporarily bogged at the end of the runway.
Used by
C-47
Dakotas
and
RAAF Hudsons in the early months of the campaign, primarily for transport flights, and for aircraft to make emergency landings.
It was abandoned after the fall of Buna and the development of the more permanent Allied airfields in the Dobodura area.
Today
After the war,
it reverted to a missionary airstrip. Today,
it is overgrown and disused.
A-20A "Old
Man Mose" Serial
Number 40-101
Pilot Taylor, force landed November 21, 1942
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