Location
Lat 9° 27' 31S Long 147° 6' 58E  Napa Napa borders Fairfax Harbor to the east. To the northeast is Motukea Island and to the east is Tatana Island. Across Fairfax Harbor to the southeast is Port Moresby.

Wartime History
During 1942, Napa Napa was a mooring for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) PBY Catalina flying boats. By late 1943, the area was developed by the 2nd Australian Army engineers as small ship servicing area. Used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and United States Navy (USN).

On February 28, 1942 six A6M2 Zeros from the 4th Kōkūtai led by Harutoshi Okamoto strafed seaplanes moored at Napa Napa. During the attack, Catalina A24-3 and Catalina A24-6 were set on fire and sank at their moorings. Catalina A24-2 under repair on the slipway was damaged and Catalina A24-7 previously damaged may also have been targeted.  Electrician Roderick John Nancarrow, 27601 was killed and went missing while working on one of the Catalinas.  Fitter Barney Ross was creased by a bullet and wounded.

Today
During 2002, InterOil developed the Napa Napa area into an oil refinery facility. At that same time, divers surveying the adjacent harbor area discovered Catalina wreckage sunk during the February 28, 1942 air raid, either Catalina A24-3 or Catalina A24-6. The wreckage of another Catalina was also discovered, but was covered by the wharf.

References
Wrecks and Reefs mentions this loss
WW2 Nominal Roll - Roderick John Nancarrow
CWGC - Roderick John Nancarrow
InterOil Napa Napa Refinery, Papua New Guinea
Thanks to Mark Palmer, Harumi Sakaguci and John Douglas for additional information

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Last Updated
October 23, 2019