Koli Airfield (also known as Bomber 3 Field) is a former

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

airfield on

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

in the South Pacific, located near

Koli Point Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli people ...

, eight miles east of Henderson Field, close to the Metapona River to the east and the Naumbu River to the west. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today is almost totally returned to its natural state.

History

This airfield was built for

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 ...

heavy bomber operations, primarily by the

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...

. The single strip ran approximately NE to SW (parallel to

Carney Airfield Carney Airfield is a former World War II airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It is located near Koli Point about six miles from Henderson Field, close to the Metapona River to the east and the Naumbu River to the wes ...

) and had several taxiways off both sides. Surfaced by bitumen with metal,

Marsden Matting Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP), is standardized, perforated steel matting material developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the r ...

-like material for heavy aircraft and was completed in the middle of 1943. Units assigned were: * 42d Bombardment Group, 6 June-20 October 1943 * 307th Bombardment Group, February 1943-28 January 1944 Disused since the war. Bomber 3 strip was used for drying

Copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

at the nearby plantation, and parts of the airfield are used as a road.

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
www.pacificwrecks.com

External links

{{USAAF 13th Air Force World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II

History

See also

References

External links