Buna Airfield was an aerodrome located near Buna,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Built as an emergency landing ground, it was extended during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by the

Imperial Japanese The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to 19 ...

. A new runway was under construction until both runways were neutralized by Allied air bombing in late 1942.

American bombing attacks

Buna was first subjected to American fury during the early days of 1942. A few half-hearted bombing raids by the disillusioned & discouraged Fifth Air Force's A-20,

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

, and

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served ...

bombers was about the worst Buna suffered. Then, in July 1942, General George C. Kenney assumed command of what was by this time, little more than a motley collection of exhausted men and exhausted planes.

Japanese units based at Buna Airfield

*2nd

Kōkūtai A ''kōkūtai'' () was a military aviation unit in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS), similar to the Group (military aviation unit), air groups in other air arms and services of the time. Some comparable units included ''wing'' in th ...

( A6M3 Hamp, D3A2 Val) * Tainan Kōkūtai (A6M3 Hamp)

References

External links

Buna Airfield (Old Strip)
Transport in Papua New Guinea Airports in Papua New Guinea Oro Province {{PapuaNewGuinea-airport-stub