Bruce Hoy - Papua New Guinea & Formation of the Museum

Bruce Hoy Papua New Guinea & Formation of the Museum

What was 1967 New Guinea in when you arrived?

Port Moresby in the late 1960s was not filled with the wreckage of war. In fact, the only reminders was a sunken ship in the harbour, a number of very incomplete aircraft wrecks, gun emplacements, both concrete and earthen, revetments at Wards and Jacksons, empty Coke and beer bottles, other trash left over and a number of concrete foundations and floors. One had to search these out, and one I found, obviously of high importance during the war, had the symbol of the 5th Air Force and the USAAF professionally etched in it. But apart from that, one had to travel out of town to find anything reassembling a complete aircraft.

One of my favourite activities of a weekend, was to wonder around old taxiways and revetments, and listen to my imagination of the activity that took place on that spot 26 years previously. When I first sat in the cockpit of a P-38 about 25 miles north west of Moresby in 1967, I wondered what became of the pilot. I never thought for one moment that in 1978, I was to bring that aircraft back into Port Moresby, minus its nose that was removed and shipped to the Tallichet Air museum in Chino.

Over the years, I managed to relocate nine B-24s and B-17s within five miles of Port Moresby, and I loved going back to each site, and finding something new.

Port Moresby from the air

Jackson airstrip perimeter

How did you become involved with the museum?

I became interested after my first visit to the P-38 and a C-47 nearby in 1967. Prior to the National Museum's involvement with matters pertaining to WWII and all things of an aviation interest, there was another organization in existence, The Territory War Memorial Trust. These folk tried to interest the government with a war museum but encountered a brick wall. They had already recovered numerous war relics.

Out of this came the birth of The Air Museum of Papua New Guinea. There is a lot of politics but there is no need to bore you with the details. Anyway, the AMPNG, had as its chief / president / chairman Bill Chapman who owned two Chemist [Pharmacy] Shops in Port Moresby. Bill had a regular advertisement in the local newspaper, South Pacific Post later called Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. In the issue for 29 November 1968, Bill included a small item at the bottom of his advertisement, calling for volunteers to join the Air Museum.

As a result of that, I attended my first meeting on 5 December 1968, and from then on, I became totally immersed with the aviation history of Papua New Guinea. Not being able to travel out on excursions during the week, (unlike most other members who were businessmen, as I was a lowly public servant), I set about documenting the history, by contacting relevant agencies both in Australia and the US, and in time, became reasonably well known for this work. I wrote several articles for the local newspaper on WWII history.

Between June 1967 and September 1978, I was employed by the Department of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries. In view of the many articles I had written for the local newspaper on WWII and aviation matters, I was asked by a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum in April 1978 whether I would be interested in moving across to the Museum and establishing a War Museum. I readily agreed, and my department released me following my vacation, and I commenced work on 4 September 1978.

Some of their collection was dumped, others were handed over to the new PNG Museum. When the Territory War Memorial Trust could not gain official recognition, they threatened to dump all their stuff in the sea. This was to try to force the Administration to support them. This failed, and the collection was dispersed, with some going to a little unofficial war museum in Kokoda where today very little remains, and the rest going to The Air Museum.

C-47 abandoned at Jackson

Speak about the Start of the PNG National Museum

It was as a result of this, that when the National Museum decided in 1978 that it should have a war collection, I was asked to establish it. I was given a desk, chair, filing cabinet, and one file, and no brief on what I was supposed to accomplish. I could have opted for a small display in the main gallery with some reference books, or I could head in the direction of a major collection that could one day become a museum in its own right. I chose the latter. I immediately set to work, securing funding for the next year's operations, buying reference books and photographs, and working towards my first display. This was to commemorate 75 years of powered flight, and this display opened on 17 December 1978 consisting of aircraft engines, components, photographs, etc. On its first public day, more visitors passed through the display than any other temporary display put on by the museum. It was a huge success. In January 1979, I moved to museum premises in the industrial suburb of Gordon. This large shed had been used as a storage facility while the National Museum's new building was being constructed. In November 1978, our first aircraft was recovered, P-38F 42-12647. And the rest is history!

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Stuart Tank PNG Museum

P-38F 42-12647 during1980s
photo by Bruce Hoy