Oro Bay Airfield

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Oro Bay (Cape Sudest) Airfield
Fifth Air Force - Emblem (World War II).svg
Part of Fifth Air Force
Located in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

Orobaybase-1943.jpg

Oro Bay Base - December 1943
Papua New Guinea location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Oro Bay Airfield
Coordinates 08°40′16.37″S148°24′42.44″E / 8.6712139°S 148.4117889°E / -8.6712139; 148.4117889 Coordinates: 08°40′16.37″S148°24′42.44″E / 8.6712139°S 148.4117889°E / -8.6712139; 148.4117889
Type Military airfield
Site information
Controlled by United States Army Air Forces
Site history
Built 1944
In use 1944

Oro Bay Airfield (also known as Cape Sudest Airfield) is a former World War II airfield in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today is almost totally returned to its natural state.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

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.

Papua New Guinea constitutional monarchy in Oceania

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.

Contents

History

Oro Bay Airfield was primarily an emergency landing field, although it was briefly used as a headquarters base for the 308th Bombardment Wing (1 February-2 July 1944) and as an operational airfield for the 417th Bombardment Group (28 January-4 February 1944) which flew A-20 Havocs. Operational squadrons assigned to the airfield were:

417th Bombardment Group

The 417th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with V Bomber Command at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945.

672d Technical Training Squadron

The 672d Technical Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 705th Strategic Missile Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath, England. It was inactivated on October 1, 1959.

673d Bombardment Squadron

The 673d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the 417th Bombardment Group at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945.

674th Bombardment Squadron

The 674th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the 417th Bombardment Group at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945.

In addition, the 547th Night Fighter Squadron flew a night fighter variant of the P-38 Lightning and P-61 Black Widow from the airfield (5 September-6 October 1944).

See also

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References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

Air Force Historical Research Agency

The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for United States Air Force historical documents. The Agency's collection, begun during World War II in Washington, D.C. and moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional military education students, the faculty, visiting scholars, and the general public.