No. 338 Radar Station (338 RS)
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), No. 41 Radar Wing

Background
No. 338 Radar Station (338 RS) was part of the No. 41 Radar Wing in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) that operated radar stations in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II.

Wartime History
On December 25, 1943 personnel from No. 338 Radar Station (338 RS) with LW/AW Mark IA radar plus technical personnel from No. 41 Wing and U.S. Army 592nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment (592nd EBSR), D Company embarked aboard three LCVP landing craft and LCM landing craft and at 2:15pm departed Finschafen bound for Long Island and by 11:45pm arrived off Malala.

On December 26, 1943 at 2:00am the first wave aboard the PT Boats landed by rubber rafts with two capsizing but no men or equipment was lost. At 5:20am the second wave of landing craft attempted to make a landing but the surf soaking some of the radar equipment and instead a better beach was selected south of Cape Reamur where the remainder of the force and equipment landed by 1:00pm.

On December 27, 1943 the radar equipment was moved onto a hilltop with an elevation of 150' on the east coast operated by two generators. Due to the wet season rains and humidity the radar station had many equipment failures and required two new generators and a new transmitter that arrived by January 27, 1944. Meanwhile, the garrison worked to build defenses, camp sites and supporting facilities. Over a five day period, they also cleared a small runway 1,500' x 50' for light aircraft. The garrison was resupplied by barges from Finschhafen in LCM and sometimes PT Boats.

On February 17, 1944 the soldiers from 592nd EBSR withdrew aboard a LCVP and seven LCMs and earned praise from U.S. Army General Kruger for "by a display of aggressiveness and superior seamanship, accomplished its mission in the face of unusual odds." In early April 1944, as the threat of Japanese planes was mainly from the west, the radar station was disassembled and over a week moved to Matafuna Point on the west coast. On April 11, 1944 at 7:00pm the radar resumed operation until January 28, 1945 when the radar station moves to Madang.

On April 2, 1945 moves to Biak Island and remained in operation until the end of the Pacific War.

Commanding Officers (C.O.)
Pilot Officer A. D. Lum (September 21, 1943–February 1945)
Flight Lieutenant G. W. Morrow (February 1945–September 1945)

References
NAA "RAAF Headquarters - CAS [Chief of Air Staff] (Organisation) - Establishment - Number 338 Radar Station" (NAA: A705, 231/9/1785 PART 1)
NAA "RAAF Headquarters - CAS [Chief of Air Staff] (Organisation) - Issue File - Establishment - Number 338 Radar Station" (NAA: A705, 231/9/1785 PART 1 ATTACHMENT)
NAA "[RAAF formation and unit records:] No.s 334-338 Radar Station (August 1943 - January 1946)" (AWM64 9/10 / NAA Item ID: 638252) PDF pages 457-462 (338 RS)
NAA "[RAAF formation and unit records:] Volume containing No.41, 42 and 44 Radar Wing plus No.1, 3, 4, and 6 RIMU [Radio Installation and Maintenance Unit]" (NAA: AWM64 10/1 / NAA Item ID: 638256)
Put 'em Across: A History of the 2d Engineer Special Brigade, 1942-1945 (1946) page 65
(Page 65) "“On the same night that the 592d boatmen landed the marines on Cape Gloucester, another 592d provisional group, consisting of Company D and some attached medics and boatmen and an Australian radar detachment [No. 338 Radar Station], effected a successful landing of their own on Long Island. The small island, 105 miles north of Finschhafen and at the head of the Vitiaz Strait, provided an excellent location for radar installations and lookout station. The task group of about two hundred officers and men under the command of Major (later Lt. Col.) Leonard Kaplan of Hempstead, New York, proceeded to Long Island on PT Boats, arriving shortly after midnight on 26 December [1943]. The men went ashore in rubber boats. A passenger on a rubber boat always has the feeling that the slightest movement will cause it to capsize and during this landing the sea was not calm. Actually two of the boats did capsize in the surf but, luckily, no men or equipment were lost."
Radar Yarns (1991, revised edition October 2007) pages 34 (Map Long Island), 34-37 (Long Island)

Units of the Royal Australian Air Force A Concise History: Volume 5 Radar Units (1995) pages viii, 67-69 (Deployment of 338 Radar Station to Long Island), 112-113 (338 Radar Station)

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