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Frans Kaisiepo International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional Frans Kaisiepo) , is an airport in
Biak
Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of 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 corals.
The large ...
,
Papua,
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 ...
. It is also known as Mokmer Airport. The airport is named after
Frans Kaisiepo
Frans Kaisiepo (10 October 1921 – 10 April 1979) was a Papuan politician and Indonesian nationalist. He served as the fourth Governor of Papua Province. In 1993, Kaisiepo was posthumously declared a National Hero of Indonesia ( id, Pahlawan N ...
(1921–1979), the fourth
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Papua. The airport has seven aircraft parking slots, of which two are capable of handling
wide-body aircraft
A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabi ...
, and a small terminal without
jet bridge
A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...
s. The airport's only runway is 3,571m long, designated as 11/29.
History
As
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 opposing ...
started in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan started occupying New Guinea in 1942. In an effort to win the war, some naval bases and military airbases were built there. This also happened in Biak, particularly at the village of Ambroben, where Mokmer Airfield was built. It had a 2,000 X 40 m runway and was built by
Romusha workers.
Japan then attempted to build a second military airfield in Samao county. However, the airfield was never completed and abandoned when
Allied troops attacked Japan's military and defense bases. Meanwhile, Mokmer Airfield was completed and was now capable of supporting Japan's military aircraft, either single-engine or twin-engine.
The allied troops
landed at Biak on 16 November 1944. With the most complex equipment of that time, they built many military facilities, including air services for troop mobility, logistic hub, and defense base. Two other airfields were built at Biak; Burokub Airfield in Burokub Subdistrict (now used by the Indonesian Air Force as the Manuhua Air Force Base) and Sorido Airfield in the village of Samau (now used by the Indonesian Navy Air Force). Mokmer Airfield's runway was extended to 3,000 X 40 m. This airfield was used by the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
. The allied troops ended their presence in Biak in 1945.
World War II
Mokmer Airfield was part of a complex of airfields built on Biak Island by the Japanese (Mokmer, Burokub, and Sorido), of which Mokmer was the main USAAF facility after the island was taken by the United States after fierce fighting in late May and June 1944.
The
Battle of Biak Island came about after a succession of Japanese defeats in 1943 and 1944 along the northern coast of New Guinea. Biak became a Japanese stronghold, which they were determined to hold to the last man. Unknown to the advancing Allies, the Japanese began fortifying the island and when the Allies invaded on 27 May 1944, the Japanese put up a fierce defense. The only tank vs. tank battle in New Guinea occurred on Biak, where
Japanese Ha-Go light tanks were knocked out by
American Sherman tanks. Japanese soldiers were well entrenched in the interior of the island in limestone caves and fortifications, a trend that would be seen again in islands like
Palau
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...
. These entrenched troops fought an excellent defense and the casualties at Biak were high - for the American Army, 435 KIA and 2,360 WIA. The Japanese lost an estimated 6,125 KIA, with 460 POWs, and 360 Formosan POWs.
Major Allied units stationed on Biak Island
*
38th Bombardment Group
The 38th Bombardment Group is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. It was most recently assigned as the operational (flying) component of the 38th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Laon-Couvron Air Base, France, where it was inactivated ...
(1–15 October 1944)
*
90th Bombardment Group (10 August 1944 – 26 January 1945)
*
345th Bombardment Group (July – 12 November 1944)
*
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 1 ...
(5 June – 24 October 1944)
*
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 Squadron, ...
(14 July – 28 October 1944)
*
6th Reconnaissance Group
Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Alec Tre ...
(August – 3 November 1944)
*
71st Reconnaissance Group
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
(8 August – 5 November 1944)
*
91st Reconnaissance Wing (10 August – 12 November 1944)
*
2d Combat Cargo Group
The 2d Combat Cargo Group is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. The unit was organized at Syracuse Army Air Base in New York. It operated during World War II in the Southwest Pacific, transporting passengers and cargo. Its last du ...
(November 1944 – May 1945)
*
54th Troop Carrier Wing
The Type 054 (NATO Codename Jiangkai I) is a class of Chinese multi-role frigates that were commissioned in the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force in 2005. They superseded the Type 053H3 frigates. Only two ships, ''Ma'anshan'' (525), and ...
(5 October 1944 – 14 February 1945)
*
374th Troop Carrier Group (14 October 1944 – 28 May 1945)
*
375th Troop Carrier Group (14 October 1944 – 28 May 1945)
Postwar
Postwar, the airfield complex became a major reclamation site for all types of surplus Allied aircraft.
Mokmer Airfield is located to the west of Mokmer village on Biak, parallel to the coastline and the Yapen Strait and is the only one of the three currently used as an airport and is now called Frans Kaisiepo International Airport. Mokmer Airfield also became a major refueling point for airline flights from the United States to destinations in Indonesia, prior to non-stop cross Pacific flights. On 16 July 1957,
KLM Flight 844 crashed into Cenderawasih Bay shortly after takeoff. 58 out of 68 passengers on board the
Lockheed 1049E Super Constellation propliner perished.
Sorido Airfield has been disused since 1962 and is located to the northwest of Mokmer, and is clearly visible on aerial photography. After the war the airfield was used by the Dutch who had kept it as a military airfield, flying
P2V Neptunes and later
Hawker Hunters from the base until the
withdrawal of Dutch forces in 1962.
Burokub Airfield is due west of Mokmer, along the beach. Not used as an airfield after the American liberation, it became a Fifth Air Force Air Depot area; however, the old runways are evident in aerial photography.
The government of Netherlands soon took over the airfield. After
Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, commercial flights started to operate to and from Biak, using Burokub Airfield which had a 2,000 m runway. Mokmer airfield wasn't in use that time and this continued into 1951. Because of a letter from ''Nieuw Guinea's'' governor (number 38/a.2/1935,dated 17 September 1953), Burokub Airfield was closed. Since then, the government started to search for another airport site. The choice was then finalized to the former RAAF and Allied troop airbase, Mokmer Airfield.
At first phase, the airport was revamped to accommodate piston airliners such as the
Douglas DC-3. This phase was completed in 1954.
With the advent of
jet airliners
A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly cl ...
such as the
Boeing 707 and
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company.
After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...
, the airport went through another modernization to start accommodating them. This modernization was completed in 1959. Sorido Airfield was closed to civilian traffic and is now used by the
Indonesian Navy
The Indonesian Navy ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut, , Indonesian National Military-Naval Force, TNI-AL) is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol ...
Air Force Division in Biak.
From August 1962 to 30 April 1963, Western Papua was administered by
UNTEA. As a result, Mr. A.A. Widodo was pointed to be the first executive manager for the airport.
In November 1962, Mokmer Airport was given over to Mr. A.A. Widodo from the government of Netherlands via a person named J.C.Smith.
On 1 May 1963, the airport was given over once again from UNTEA to the government of Indonesia. Shortly afterwards, an administration improvement regarding organization and airport operation was carried out.
During the mid 1980s and early 1990s,
Garuda Indonesia airlines ran a flight from
Jakarta to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in the US, via
Bali, Biak, and
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
; Biak was designated as a refueling stopover before flying the Trans-Pacific leg. In 1993, Garuda flew four times a week to Honolulu and Los Angeles with their
Boeing 747-200 Combi and
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.
The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...
wide body jetliners.
In 1990, the airport's management and operation was handed over to
Angkasa Pura I
Angkasa Pura (Sanskrit for ''Sky City'') is the name used by two separate state enterprises of the Indonesian Ministry of State Owned Enterprises responsible for the management of airports in Indonesia. The two companies are PT Angkasa Pura ...
.
In December 2017, two
Tu-95
The Tupolev Tu-95 (russian: Туполев Ту-95; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of t ...
strategic bombers
A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, ...
belonging to the
Russian Air Force exercised at the airbase, prompting
RAAF Base Darwin
RAAF Base Darwin is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located in the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory, Australia. The base shares its runway with Darwin International Airport, for civil aviation purposes. The herit ...
in
Australia to raise its alert level.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Ground transportation
Taxis and civil transport cars (''Angkot'') can be used as public transport alongside private vehicles.
Terminals
There is a terminal with a check-in hall, a departure hall, and an arrival hall.
*Terminal area: 1,367 square meters
*Passenger capacity: up to 100,000 passengers per year
The terminal is equipped with numerous facilities including a mosque, public telephone boxes, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), restaurants, and souvenir shops.
See also
*
USAAF in the Southwest Pacific
Notes
References
*
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
*
External links
*
Frans Kaisiepo Airport at Directorate General of Civil Aviation*
*
*
{{Authority control
Biak Numfor Regency
Airports in Papua (province)
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the South West Pacific Theater
World War II sites in Indonesia
Transport in Papua (province)