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Finschhafen Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. (IATA: FIN, ICAO: AYFI). It is located on the south-east tip of Huon Peninsula at Finschafen. A half mile inland, parallel to Schneider Harbor, with Dregerhaffen to the south-east. It has no scheduled commercial airline service.[2]
Finschhafen Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Location | Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 33 ft / 10 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 06°37′20.25″S 147°51′14.81″E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  Finschhafen Airport | |||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Source: World Aero Data [1] | |||||||||||
The airport was built during World War II in late 1943 by the United States Army 807th and 808th Aviation Engineer Battalions along with the 60th Naval Construction Battalion constructed a 6,000' x 100' coral and steel matting single runway running NNW to SSE. The tower was code named 'Harvest'. In mid-November 1943, the Seabees performed rough grading on the northern end of the strip, and crushed coral for the entire area. On 5 January the 808th departed, and the 60th CB completed the airfield, building fighter and medium bomber hardstands, mostly located to the north, with more to the east and a few on the southern side of the runway. Many aircraft shipped from the United States were assembled at Finschhafen and then flown to other airfields for operations.[3][4]
Allied units assigned to Finschhafen
- 86th Fighter Wing (1 May-1 August 1944)
- 8th Fighter Group (23 December 1943 – 20 February 1944)
- Headquarters, 35th, 36th Fighter Squadrons, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt
- 49th Fighter Group (19 April-17 May 1944)
- Headquarters, 7th Fighter Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
- 348th Fighter Group (16 December 1943 – 29 March 1944)
- Headquarters, 340th, 341st, 342d Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt
- 317th Troop Carrier Group (April–June 1944)
- Headquarters, 319th Troop Carrier Squadron, C-47 Skytrain
- 22d Troop Carrier Squadron, (375th Troop Carrier Group), C-47 Skytrain
- 8th Combat Cargo Squadron, (2d Combat Cargo Group), C-46 Commando
- 418th Night Fighter Squadron, (380th Bombardment Wing), (28 March-12 May 1944)
At the war's end, millions of dollars of equipment both new and used was bulldozed into huge holes in the area and abandoned.[citation needed]
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