Dobodura

Dobodura

Oro Province | Papua New Guinea

Lat 8° 46' 0S Long 148° 22' 0E Inland village, situated along the Samboga River. This area was developed into a major airfield area by the Allies. More airfields were located at Embi and Borio.

American Army Units at Dobodura
36th Infantry Division - (amphibious and jungle warfare training) April 24 - June 25, 1944.
(Partial List).

Raways Airstrip (No. 1)	Small single runway to the east of Dobodura
(No. 2)	Located to the north-east of Horanda 4
Horanda 4 (No. 4, East 4, Horanda Y)	Main airfield in the Dobodura complex
Dobodura No. 7 (Kenney, Girua Airport)	American built airfield, still in use today
Borio Airstrip (No. 11)	Located to the south of Borio village
North Borio Airstrip (No. 15)	Located to the north of Borio Airfield

Dobodura Airfield Complex

Construction
Located to the west of Dobodura village, this airfield was built by the Americans and opened in early December 1942 at the height of the Battle of Buna and Gona. Immediatly supplies began landing at the new strip including artillery spotting planes, a 105mm and five Bren Gun Carriers used to assault Cape Endaiadere, all were destroyed.

After the battle, it was developed into a major airbase, with storage and repair facilities, and interconnecting taxiways to adjacent airfields.

American Units based at Dobodura
3rd BG, 8th BS (A-20s) from Port Moresby April 10, 1943 - ?
3rd BG, 89th BS (A-20s) from Port Moresby May 9, 1943 - ?
3rd BG, HQ from Port Moresby May 20, 1943 - ?
3rd BG, 90th BS (B-25s) from Port Moresby May 21, 1943 - ?
3rd BG, 13th BS (B-25s) from Port Moresby May 23, 1943 - ?
22nd BG 19th BS (B-26s, B-25s) from Woodstock July 11, 1943 - ?
22nd BG 2nd BS (B-26s, B-25s) from Ried River October 9 - Dec 19, 1943 to Nadzab
22nd BG HQ, 33rd BS, 408th BS (B-25s) from Australia October 15, 1943 - ?
43rd BG, 63rd BS (B-24s) from Port Moresby October 29, 1943 - ?
49th FG, 7th FS, (P-40s) Port Moresby April 15 - Nov 16, 1943 to Gusap
49th FG, 8th FS (P-40s) Port Moresby April 15 - Aug 30, 1943 Tsili-Tsili
49th FG, HQ from Port Moresby March 6 - November 20, 1943 to Gusap
49th FG, 9th FS (P-47s) from Port Moresby - Dec 16, 1943 to Gusap
17th TRG 17th TRS, 82nd TRS (B-25s, P-39s) from Milne Bay Nov 22, 1943 - ?
5th FC, 418th NFS from Milne Bay Nov 22, 1943 - ?
90th BG, 319th, 320th, 321st and 400th BS (B-24s) Port Moresby Dec 1, 1943 - ?
43rd BG HQ, 64th BS (B-24s) from Port Moresby Dec 10, 1943 - ?
43rd BG HQ, 65th BS (B-24s) from Port Moresby Dec 11, 1943 - ?
8th FG, 80th FS (P-38s) from Port Moresby Dec 11, 1943 - ?
43rd BG HQ, 403rd BS (B-24s) from Port Moresby Dec 13, 1943 - ?
375th TCG HQ from Port Morsby Aug 19, 1943 - December 19, 1943 to Port Moresby
345th BG, 501st BS from Port Moresby Dec 23, 1943 - ?
58th FG HQ, 310th FS, 311th FS (P-47s) from Brisbane Dec 28, 1943 - ?
58th FG HQ, 69th FS (P-47s) from Brisbane Dec 28, 1943 - ?
345th BG, 500st BS (B-25s) from Port Moresby Jan 1, 1944 - ?

Japanese Missions Against Dobodura
December 12, 1942 - 1943 (partial list)

Post War Scapping
At one point after the war, there were over a thousand wrecks at this strip. Most were destroyed in the early scrap drives, and it has not been used as an airfield since the war.

Today
Some of the airfiled area is bing replanted with oil palm since the mid-1990's. OPIC (Oil Palm Industries Corporation) is lending money to individual developers to plant oil palm in the area. The land is mostly kunai, and there are no official land claims so some portions of the base have been replanted at various times. No plam grows on the old airstrips, as the highly compacted earth and bitumen is still present from the war, making any planting difficult, even today.

John Douglas reports:
"The main Dobodura complex had eleven strips, most interconnected for taxiing purposes. One of these, Girua Airport, is still in use today as the Provincial Airstrip. Another [ Horanda 4E ] is sealed but overgrown while the rest have reverted to kunai. There are a lot of revetments in this area and scraps of airplanes, concrete, etc."

F7A "American Beauty" Serial Number 42-73045

B-24D "Joltin Janie II" Serial Number 42-40233

P-40E "Suzy"

Abandoned in the kunai until 1991, when exported. Whereabouts today unknown.

Scrap Collecting

Frank Anderson 1971

This heap of 50 caliber projectiles is about 2 weeks worth of scrap ammo from the Popondetta area, 1970. Collected by locals and sold to Vince Sanders. Vince used to buy live ammo. He would then pack it in drums, transport it to Moresby then export it. Vince was the sixth person to have held the rights to scrap in the area. Photo from Frank Anderson

P-40 Kittyhawk

Frank Anderson 1971

Wreckage
According to Frank Anderson:
"This Kittyhawk wreck is deep in the jungle. It appeared to have been shot down as there were bullet holes in the cockpit and it had hit the ground in a flat spin."

P-40