Girua Airport is an airport serving Popondetta, a city in the

Oro Oro or ORO, meaning gold in Spanish and Italian, may refer to: Music and dance * Oro (dance), a Balkan circle dance * Oro (eagle dance), an eagle dance from Montenegro and Herzegovina * "Oro" (song), the Serbian entry in the 2008 Eurovision So ...

(or Northern) province in Papua New Guinea.

History

Girua Airport is located near Dobodura, to the north-east of the Embi Lakes, north-east of Inonda. To the south is Mt. Lamington, a volcano that dominates the skyline. The airport was built during World War II as part of the Dobodura Airfield Complex during late 1942 and early 1943. During the war, the airfield had several names, including No. 7, West 7, or Horanda No. 7 Airstrip or West 7. It was also known as Kenney Strip, in honor of Fifth Air Force Commander General George Kenney. The main Dobodura complex had eleven airstrips, most interconnected for taxiing purposes. At the height of the Battle of Buna-Gona supplies began landing at the airfields including artillery spotting planes, a 105mm and five Bren Gun Carriers used to assault Cape Endaiadere, After the battle, Dobodura was developed into a major airbase, with storage and repair facilities, and interconnecting taxiways to adjacent airfields. Today, Girua is the only airfield still in use, the others being abandoned after the war. Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .

Major USAAF units assigned

3d Bombardment Group 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

(May 20, 1943 – February 3, 1944) :: Headquarters,

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

, 89th, 90th Bomb Squadrons,

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

22d Bombardment Group D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

(October 9, 1943 – January 13, 1944) :: Headquarters, 2d,

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

, 408th Bomb Squadrons,

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

43d Bombardment Group The Poor Relief Act 1601 (43 Eliz 1 c 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601, popularly known as the Elizabethan Poor Law, "43rd Elizabeth" or the Old Poor Law was passed in 1601 and created a poor la ...

(December 10, 1943 – March 4, 1944) :: Headquarters, 63d, 64th, 65th, 403d Bomb Squadrons,

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

90th Bombardment Group 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

(December 1943 – February 23, 1944) :: Headquarters, 319th, 320th, 321st, 400th Bomb Squadrons,

* 345th Bombardment Group (January 18 – February 16, 1944) :: Headquarters, 498th, 499th, 500th, 501st Bomb Squadrons,

417th Bombardment Group The 417th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with V Bomber Command at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945. During World War II, the group operated in the So ...

(February 7 – April 8, 1944), (Headquarters) :: 672d, 673d, 673d, 675th Bomb Squadrons,

A-20 Havoc The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was or ...

49th Fighter Group The 49th Fighter Group was a fighter aircraft unit of the Fifth Air Force that was located in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Activation and training The group was constituted as 49th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 20 November 194 ...

(March – November 20, 1943) :: Headquarters, 7th,

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number ...

Fighter Squadrons, Curtiss P-40, 9th Fighter Squadron, P-38 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt * 58th Fighter Group (December 28, 1943 – April 3, 1944) :: Headquarters, 69th, 310th, 311th Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt *

475th Fighter Group 475th may refer to: *475th Air Base Wing, inactive United States Air Force unit * 475th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 475th Fighter Group, World War II predecessor of 53d Weapons Evaluation Group * 475th Test Squadro ...

(August 14, 1943 – March 24, 1944) (Headquarters) :: 432d Fighter Squadron, P-38 Lightning, (May 15 – July 12, 1944), (North Borio Airfield, Dobodura No. 15) :: 433rd Fighter Squadron, P-38 Lightning, (August 14 – October 3, 1943), (Borio Airfield, Dobodura No. 11) *

418th Night Fighter Squadron 418th may refer to: * 418th Bombardment Group, inactive United States Air Force unit *418th Flight Test Squadron (418 FLTS), part of the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base, California * 418th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, inactiv ...

( V Fighter Command) (November 22, 1943 – March 28, 1944), P-61 Black Widow * 80th Fighter Squadron, ( 8th Fighter Group), (December 11, 1943 – February 28, 1944), P-38 Lightning *

375th Troop Carrier Group 375th may refer to: * 375th Air Mobility Wing, unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Eighteenth Air Forcestationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois *375th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 375th Fighter Squadr ...

, (August 19 – December 19, 1943) (HQ Echelon)

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

www.pacificwrecks.com
*
{{authority control Airports in Papua New Guinea Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Papua New Guinea Oro Province Airports established in 1943

History

Major USAAF units assigned

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links