Gusap Airport

Gusap Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. (IATA: GAP) located at the base of the Finisterre Range. It has no scheduled commercial airline service. It is currently in use, and maintained by Ramu Agri Industries Ltd. (RAIL) for Crop Dusting purposes (Aerial Spraying on Sugar Cane and other agricultural crops).

Gusap Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
LocationGusap, Papua New Guinea
Elevation AMSL1,450 ft / 442 m
Coordinates06°03′12.93″S 145°57′37.23″E
Map
Gusap Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 5,250 1,600 Grass
Source: World Aero Data

History

Gusap Airport was built by US Army engineers of the 871st, 872nd and 875th Airborne Aviation Engineer Battalions during World War II, and was developed into major base consisting of ten airstrips and numerous facilities for fighters and light bombers of the Fifth Air Force. Later during the war, the airfield was also a base for Royal Australian Air Force aircraft. The base was built around eight grass runways, with 180 revetments in the complex. The airstrip at Gusap "paid for itself many times over in the quantity of Japanese aircraft, equipment and personnel destroyed by Allied attack missions projected from it."[1]

Many relics from this period can be still found in the surrounding environment, and Ramu Agri Industries Limited at Gusap have established a mini-museum with restored relics for viewing. These include strip dozers, Bren Guns, 50mm Aircraft cannon, various ammunition, US & Japanese helmets and even the engine from a Japanese "Sally" Bomber recovered from the nearby mountains, on display.[2]

Allied units assigned to Gusap Airfield
Headquarters, 386th, 387th, 388th, 389th Bomb Squadrons, A-20 Havoc
Headquarters, 39th, 41st Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt
  • 49th Fighter Group (20 November 1943 – 19 April 1944)
Headquarters, 7th, 8th, 9th Fighter Squadrons, P-40 Warhawk (1943), P-47 Thunderbolt (1944)
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See also

Notes
  1. Casey 1951, pp. 171–172
  2. "Gusap Airport, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  3. Dexter 1961, pp. 594 & 684.

References

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

  • Dexter, David (1961). The New Guinea Offensives. Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series One (Army) Volume VI. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 2028994.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Casey, Hugh J., ed. (1951). Airfield and Base Development. Engineers of the Southwest Pacific. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC 220327037.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.


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