Dennis Letourneau    Vila Airfield

All images property of Dennis Letourneau, used with permission. Click thumbnail for full image.

Vila Airstrip Built by the Japanese on Kolombangara Island, was pounded by ships and planes for several months prior to the U.S. landings on New Georgia.	Runway crushed and compacted coral base is still evident after half a century.
Plane wreckage still lie in the undergrowth along the runway.	Japanese antiaircraft gun the barrel has slid backwards onto the jungle floor.
(L)  Japanese antiaircraft gun and ammunition still wait, half a century later, for the next attack by US planes on Vila airstrip. (R)   Japanese antiaircraft gun and ammunition The barrel shows a scar from strafing by US planes in 1943.	Japanese binoculars that would have been by used by antiaircraft crews to sight American planes

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