Finschhafen Airport

Finschhafen Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. (IATA: FIN, ICAO: AYFI). It is located on the south-east tip of Huon Peninsula at Finschafen. A half mile inland, parallel to Schneider Harbor, with Dregerhaffen to the south-east. It has no scheduled commercial airline service.

Finschhafen Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
LocationFinschhafen, Papua New Guinea
Elevation AMSL33 ft / 10 m
Coordinates06°37′20.25″S 147°51′14.81″E
Map
Finschhafen Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 5,200 1,585 Asphalt
Source: World Aero Data

History

The airport was built during World War II in late 1943 by the United States Army 807th and 808th Aviation Engineer Battalions along with the 60th Naval Construction Battalion constructed a 6,000' x 100' coral and steel matting single runway running NNW to SSE. The tower was code named 'Harvest'. In mid-November 1943, the Seabees performed rough grading on the northern end of the strip, and crushed coral for the entire area. On 5 January the 808th departed, and the 60th CB completed the airfield, building fighter and medium bomber hardstands, mostly located to the north, with more to the east and a few on the southern side of the runway. Many aircraft shipped from the United States were assembled at Finschafen and then flown to other airfields for operations.

Allied units assigned to Finschhafen
Headquarters, 35th, 36th Fighter Squadrons, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt
Headquarters, 7th Fighter Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
Headquarters, 340th, 341st, 342d Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt
Headquarters, 319th Troop Carrier Squadron, C-47 Skytrain

At the war's end, millions of dollars of equipment both new and used was bulldozed into a huge holes in the area and abandoned.

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
  • www.pacificwrecks.com
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