Lat
4° 13' 0S Long 152° 9' 0E Located three miles
south of Rabaul along Simpson Harbor.
American Missions Against Malaguna
January 14 - April 13, 1944
History
This area many tunnels were dug by the Japanese, and coastline used for shipping. On September 10, 1945, after the official surrender the day before, Australian 29/46 Infantry Battalion 4 Infantry Brigade landed at
Malaguna, the first detachment of the Allied occupational force.
Japanese Anti-Aircraft Battery
On the caldera ridge to the west of
the Malaguna area there is a well preserved 3" and 6" gun
anti-aircraft battery that still had the sound predictor unit and
range finder base in the immediate area.
Malaguna Airfield (Malaguna Emergency Strip)
Japanese emergency strip along the road, disused since the war.
Malaguna Tunnels
Japanese dug many tunnels into the hill side at Malaguna. For many years they had
Nay aircraft parts mostly for the Zero as
well as some other types. Some of these parts were recovered
in 1985.
Brian
Bennett reports:
"Near this field there were concrete lined
tunnels that had new parts for A6M series aircraft as well
as a number of aerial torpedo propulsion units and main bodies, no
warheads! Some parts from these tunnels were retrieved in
1985 and later went into the restoration of RAAF
Museum restoration of A6M2
5784, now in display at AWM in
Canberra. Quite a few years ago, I recall seeing
some sections of aluminum sheet that had been deriveted.
Probably repair stock salvaged from somewhere."
Hydrovane Discovery
Hydrovanes discovered in July 2001 Between Malaguna
1 and Malaguna 2 after a rain storm collapsed its
tunnel, near a petrol station.