Middleburg Airfield (also known as Klenso Airfield or Toem Airfield) is a

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 located on

Middleburg Island Middleburg Island or Pulau Middleburg, Tambrauw is an island in the Tambrauw in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. It's part of the Su Islands (Mios Su) or the Soe Island Group. See also *Amsterdam Island Amsterdam ( , , , lit ...

, to the north of

Sansapor Sausapor (alternates: SansaporHarper Encyclopedia of Military Biography; Dupuy; HarperCollins 1992; pages=462 or Tandjong Sausapor) is a small town and district in the Tambrauw Regency of Southwest Papua, Indonesia. The town is located on the north ...

Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today is almost totally returned to its natural state.

History

The airfield was built by the Americans, and began as a 5,400 foot-long fighter airstrip, becoming operational on 17 August 1944. A second runway, completed on 3 September, began at 6,000 feet but was soon lengthened to 7,500. It was used by a number of units, including the 419th Night Fighter Squadron flying

P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night figh ...

s (21 August to 6 March 1945) and the 67th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group flying

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

s (15 August to 12 February 1945). The capture of this island had a significant impact on the Allied war effort in the Southwest Pacific, as the long-range P-38 Lightnings were now in range of several important Japanese installations blocking the route to the Philippines.

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 ...

s based on

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

also used Middleburg as a staging base to extend the range of their bombing operations into northern

Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...

References

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

External links

Middleburg Airfield at Pacificwrecks.com
Airports in Southwest Papua Defunct airports in Indonesia Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II World War II sites in Indonesia {{Indonesia-airport-stub