page_title: Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign
section_title: Airfields
hierarchical_section_title: Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign / Base development / Airfields
caption_attribution_description: English: Kila Kila Airfield (also known as 3-Mile Drome), near near Port Moresby, New Guinea
context_page_description: During the Second World War, Allied logistics in Papua played a crucial role in bringing the Kokoda Track campaign to a successful conclusion. "The great problem of warfare in the Pacific", General Douglas MacArthur declared, "is to move forces into contact and maintain them. Victory is dependent upon solution to the logistic problem."
  Although identified early as a vital strategic outpost, Port Moresby, the most significant Papuan town, had just two airfields and basic port facilities in early 1942. An enormous amount of work was required to transform it into a major base for both air and land operations against the Japanese. This was done in the face of frequent Japanese air raids. During the course of the Kokoda Track campaign, the two original airfields were improved, and five new airfields were developed. To make them operational, the engineers had to construct more than just runways; taxiways, hardstands, facilities and access roads all had to be built. The operation of the base depended on shipping, but the port facilities were limited. To increase the capacity of the port, a causeway was built to Tatana Island, where pontoon docks were emplaced.
context_section_description: On 31 March—just a fortnight after his arrival in Australia—MacArthur sent Casey and his air officer, Brigadier General Harold H. George to survey the situation in Port Moresby. They drew up plans to develop it into a base to support future operations. They recognised that to secure the area required work far beyond its environs. They called for the airfield at Horn Island to be upgraded, and new airfields to be constructed on the Cape York Peninsula north of Townsville around Mareeba, Cooktown and Coen. This would allow ships to have fighter cover crossing the Torres Strait. To protect Port Moresby's eastern flank, GHQ decided to establish an airstrip in the Abau–Mullins Harbour area. Milne Bay was subsequently determined to be a better location, and a garrison was sent by sea from Port Moresby on 22 June. Another strip, at Merauke on the south coast of Dutch New Guinea, was authorised on 22 June to protect the western flank.
  The airfields in the Port Moresby area were initially known by their approximate distance from Port Moresby. In April 1942, there were only two operational airfields: Seven Mile Drome, an airfield developed by the RAAF with a single 1,524-by-23-metre (5,000 by 75 ft) runway, and Three Mile Drome (also known as Kila Airfield), a pre-war civilian airfield. Work had commenced on two more: Fourteen Mile, also known as Laloki, and Five Mile, which had originally been developed as an emergency landing strip. Four more were subsequently developed: Twelve Mile, Fourteen Mile, Seventeen Mile and Thirty Mile.
  On 10 November, the Port Moresby airfields, except for Kila, were renamed after men who had been killed defending them. Seven Mile was renamed after Jackson, who was shot down over Port Moresby on 28 April; Fourteen Mile after Charles Schwimmer, one of four American P-39 pilots who was lost in an attack on Lae on 4 May; and Five Mile after Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Ward, the commander of the 53rd Infantry Battalion, who was involved in its construction, and was killed in the fighting on the Kokoda Track on 27 August. Twelve Mile was renamed Berry after Major Jack W. Berry, the commander of the 39th Fighter Squadron, who was killed on a practice bombing mission on 4 August when his bomb exploded directly underneath his aircraft, causing it to flip and crash into the sea. Seventeen Mile was renamed Durand after First Lieutenant Edward D. Durand, the first American fighter pilot shot down over New Guinea. After being forced down near Salamaua on 30 April, he was captured and executed by the Japanese. Thirty Mile Drome, also known as Rorona, was renamed Rogers after Major Floyd (Buck) Rogers, the commander of the 8th Bombardment Squadron, whose A-24 Banshee dive bomber was shot down over Gona on 29 July.
  Engineer units in Port Moresby at the end of April were the 7th Field Company, 1st Army Troops Company, the field stores section of the 61st Field Park Company, a section of the 1st Mechanical Equipment Company, and the 1st Bomb Disposal Section. The 14th Field Company arrived with the 14th Infantry Brigade in May. The first US troops to be stationed in New Guinea were an advance party of the African-American 96th Engineer Battalion on 28 April, but the battalion was not complete until June. They were followed by Company E of the 43rd Engineer General Service Regiment and a dump truck section of the 576th Engineer Company. The 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived in July. The 96th Engineer Battalion was reorganised as the 96th Engineer General Service Regiment in September. In response to Kenney's 26 October warning to MacArthur, the 46th and 91st Engineer General Service Regiments and the rest of the 576th Dump Truck Company were ordered to move to Port Moresby in November.
  The main mission of the 96th was patching Jackson Drome's runways after Japanese bombing, but they also assisted with refuelling aircraft and loading them with bombs, and unloading ships in the harbour. It was found that craters could not be repaired simply by filling the holes with rubble. They would quickly fill with water, sett
caption: Kila Drome, also known as Three Mile Drome
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