Rekata Bay, also known as ''Suavanau'', is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

located on the northeast coast of Santa Isabel Island in the

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 capit ...

between Santa Isabel and Papatura Island.

History

Japanese seaplane base Rekata Bay under attack 8-1943

Before the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

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 co ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

was built at Suavanau Point by Burns, Philp & Company Limited, known as the Suavanau Plantation. During the war, the

Japanese Imperial Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

constructed a seaplane base at Rekata Bay in the middle of 1942. It was used by

R-Area Air Force was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during the Pacific War that was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign and Solomon Islands Campaign. The unit operated seaplanes with a primary mission to protect Tokyo Express, resupply ...

as a forward base for offensive operations, mainly the nightly

Washing Machine Charlie Washing Machine Charlie was a name given by the Allies (primarily the United States) to Imperial Japanese aircraft that performed usually solitary, nocturnal operations over Henderson Field on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign, as well a ...

raids on Henderson Field,

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 se ...

. It was also used as an emergency landing and ditching area for aircraft damaged during the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

. The base was defended by 3,100 troops of the 7th Combined Special Naval Landing Force and III Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 6th Division. The base was bombed by U.S. forces from August 1942 to August 1943. In the following month, the Japanese evacuated the base. Large bomb craters are still visible. A U.S. Navy team flew in during 1943 and examined 15 wrecked Japanese aircraft. A single PBY from

No. 6 Squadron RNZAF No. 6 Squadron RNZAF is a maritime squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It has a history going back to World War II, when it operated flying boats, and has been disbanded and re-formed several times through changes in the country's milita ...

finally visited the abandoned base on 28 August 1945, losing a man, who was possibly taken by a saltwater crocodile. In the 1990s a small earth 2,900-foot airstrip was built at Suavanau Point.

References

*
ITouch map of Rekata Bay
* Hammond World Travel Atlas''. Union, N.J.: Hammond World Atlas Corporation, c. 2004–2005. . Page 245. * Bays of the Solomon Islands {{Solomons-geo-stub