| Durand Airfield 17-Mile Drome  | |
|---|---|
| Part of Fifth Air Force | |
Located near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea   Durand Airfield Durand Airfield (Papua New Guinea) | |
| Coordinates | 09°22′57.35″S147°10′23.76″E / 9.3825972°S 147.1732667°E |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1944 |
| In use | 1944 |
Durand Airfield (also known as 17-Mile Drome) is a former World War II airfield near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was part of a multiple-airfield complex in the Port Moresby area, located 17 miles (27 km) from Port Moresby, to the north of the Waigani swamp.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea and the largest city in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.
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The airfield was known as '17 Mile' or sometimes 'Waigani'. Waigani swamp is located at the end of the airfield. Pilots feared crashing into during bad take offs or landings under the belief there were crocodiles in it. On November 10, 1942 it was officially renamed "Durand Airfield" to honor of MIA P-39 pilot Edward D. Durand missing on a mission against Lae.
