Vunakanau Airfield was an

aerodrome 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 ...

located near Vunakanau,

East New Britain East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely de ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. The airfield was constructed as a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

aerodrome and consisted of an unpaved single runway 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 opposing ...

. The airfield was captured during the battle of Rabaul in 1942 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 ...

and was extensively modified and expanded. Vunakanau was later neutralized by Allied air bombing from 1944. The airfield was utilised as an emergency landing strip for Rabaul (former airport) until 1983, however it was no longer needed when the new Rabaul Airport was built at Tokua. The runways are now overgrown.

Allied Units based at Vunakanau Airfield

*No. 24 Squadron RAAF,

CAC Wirraway The CAC Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning "challenge") was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. It was an Australian development of ...

and

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...

Japanese Units based at Vunakanau Airfield

* 4th Kōkūtai (4th "

Air Group A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches ...

", G4M1 ''Rikko'') *Misawa Kōkūtai (G4M1) *705 Kōkūtai (G4M1) *702 Kōkūtai (G4M1) *751 Kōkūtai (G4M1) * Tainan Kōkūtai (

A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

) *251 Kōkūtai (A6M Zero & J1N1 Gekkou) * 1st Sentai (

Ki-43 Oscar The Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' (, "Peregrine falcon", "Army Type 1 Fighter" ) is a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was o ...

) * 11th Sentai (Ki-43 Oscar) *13th Sentai ( Ki-45 Nick) *68th Sentai ( Ki-61 Tony) *78th Sentai (Ki-61 Tony)

References

* *

External links

*http://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/png/vunakanau/index.html Transport in Papua New Guinea Airports in Papua New Guinea East New Britain Province {{PapuaNewGuinea-struct-stub