page_title: Leo Wattimena Airport
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Leo Wattimena Airport / History
caption_attribution_description: AWM image OG1934. An aerial view of Wama Airstrop at Morotai in April 1945. The figher airstrip and some of the dispersal areas are visible.
context_page_description: Leo Wattimena Airport, formerly known as Pitu Airport is a private airport located on the southern coast of Morotai Island, North Maluku, Indonesia.
context_section_description: Moratai island was the final island invasion in Netherlands New Guinea before the liberation of the Philippines.  The island was recaptured by the 31st Infantry Division on 15 September 1944, meeting only light opposition. General MacArthur and Rear Admiral Barbey landed on the day of the invasion to make an inspection. At the time, the island had only five hundred Japanese defenders.
  After the landings, Navy Seabees constructed two airfields on the island, Wama and Pitu.   Wama was constructed almost along the shoreline and was used as a fighter airfield.  It was abandoned after the war. Pitu was built as a bomber airfield to the north inland, and is currently used as a commercial airport.
  After the war, the island was one of the largest Fifth Air Force aircraft reclamation center in the Pacific. A smelting operation was established, and USAAF planes from all over the region were flown there to be scrapped. Despite scrapping the island was crammed full of aircraft and vehicles until 1988 when it was cleared in a final scrap drive. The scrap was taken to Krakatau Steel Mill in Java.
caption: Aerial view of Pitu (left) and Wama (right) airfields in 1945
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