Mokerang Airfield, was an

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

on the northwest tip of

Los Negros Island Los Negros Island is the third largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is significant because it contains the main airport of Manus Province on its eastern coastline, at Momote. It is connected to Lorengau, the capital of the province, on Manus I ...

, NNW of

Momote Airfield Momote Airport is an airport on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea. It also serves Manus Island, which is connected to Los Negros by a bridge. History Hayne Airfield Built by the Imperial Japanese at Momote during Worl ...

History

It was built by the

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

at Mokerang Plantation shortly after Lorengau Airfield during

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 ...

and liberated during the

Battle of Los Negros The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division took the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands. Acting on reports from airm ...

as part of the

Admiralty Islands campaign The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division took the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands ar ...

. The 836th Engineer Aviation Battalion and

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...

constructed two runways long × wide and overruns at each end, and the 104th Naval Construction Battalion and 46th Naval Construction Battalion built the taxiways and dispersal areas as part of

Manus Naval Base Manus Naval Base, Naval supply depot with piers and quonset Hut warehouses on September 18, 1945 Manus Naval Base was a number of bases built after the World War II Battle of Manus by United States Navy on the Manus Island and a smaller isla ...

. The runways had a bearing WNW/ESE 114 degrees/294 degrees magnetic. A storage depot for 30,000 barrels of fuel was stockpiled at Mokerang. The airfield was abandoned at the end of the war and has been reclaimed by vegetation.

Units based at Mokerang

13th 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 ...

(13th Air Task Force) *

307th Bombardment Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

HQ ** 424th Bombardment Squadron (

B-24 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 ...

s) ** 370th Bombardment Squadron (B-24s) **

371st Bombardment Squadron The 371st Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 307th Bombardment Wing, based at Lincoln AFB, Nebraska. It was inactivated on 25 March 1965. History Formed as a heavy bombardment ...

(B-24s) ** 372nd Bombardment Squadron (B-24s) *XIII Bomber Command, 13th Air Force *

18th Fighter Group 018 may refer to *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboje ...

419th Night Fighter Squadron The 419th Night Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Thirteenth Air Force, being inactivated at Floridablanca, Luzon on 20 February 1947. The unit was formed in 1943. After training, it was ...

(detachment)

P-61 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 ...

References

Australian War Museum - Mokerang Airfield Photo and Description
Closed installations of the United States Army Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Papua New Guinea {{WWII-stub