Munda Airport

Munda Airport
IATA: MUA – ICAO: AGGM
Summary
Location	Munda, New Georgia island
Elevation AMSL	10 ft / 3 m
Coordinates
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 07/25 4,593 1,400 Asphalt
Source: World Aero Data [1]

Munda Airport is an airport in Munda on New Georgia Island in the Solomon Islands (IATA: MUA, ICAO: AGGM).

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Solomon Airlines	Gizo, Seghe

History

World War II

File:Munda Airfield.jpg

Looking eastward, over Munda Field, toward the scene of battle, this post-war picture shows how the jungle has already begun to encroach on what was the busiest Allied airstrip in the Solomons. Within a year dense vegetation had already obscured Bibilo Hill, while once bare Kokengolo (to the center left of the photograph) sprouts a thick growth.

A Japanese directive in late October 1942 called for an air base to be built at Munda Point, about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Guadalcanal and Henderson Field.

Construction began in mid-November with a great emphasis on keeping the forward airfield secret. The majority of airfield work done before clearing the main runway and surfacing it with crushed coral. By wiring the tops of palm trees to keep them in place, allowing work to initially escape detection. Finally the trunks were cut away, and runway completed.

Despite these efforts, reports of the strip were relayed to Guadalcanal via coastwatcher Danny Kennedy and aerial reconnaissance spotted increased barge traffic and evidence of crushed coral being prepared at the strip, but the Japanese succeeded in buying enough time to complete a single 1,094 feet (333 m) by 44 feet (13 m) all weather runway for fighters operational on 17 December 1942.

Opened on 1 December 1942, it was used by the Japanese Navy and Japanese Army Air Force as a forward operating base. As soon as it was operational, the airfield was hampered by the observation of coastwatchers in the area, including Kennedy and D.C. Horton who was observing the airfield from Rendova. It was heavily bombed from the air by the Allies prior to the American landing.

Munda airfield was the principal objective of the Central Solomons campaign, also known as Munda or Munda Point Airfield. It was captured by the US Army XIV Corps forces after 12 continuous days of fierce fighting in the jungle area. The high ground around the airfield fell on August 5, 1943.

Once seized, the Americans improved and expanded the airbase for their own operations. The first American aircraft landed at Munda on August 14, 1943 with landings by F4U Corsairs piloted by Robert Owen of VMF-215, a 44th Fighter Squadron (44th FS) P-40 Warhawk and a J2F Duck with Marine Brigadier General Francis P. Mulcahy aboard.

Known American air units stationed at Munda Airfield were:

• United States Navy

VC-24 operating SBDs

VC-40 operating TBFs

VF-33 operating F6Fs

VF-38 operating F6Fs

CASU 14 (Carrier Aircraft Service Unit)

VB-98 operating SBDs

VB-148 operating PV-1s

VB-140 operating PV-1s

• United States Army Air Forces

5th Bombardment Group, 4 February-7 April 1944

307th Bombardment Group, 28 January-29 April 1944

• United States Marine Corps

ComAir New Georgia

VMSB-236 operating SBDs

VMF-124 operating F4Us

VMF-213 operating F4Us

VMF-214 operating F4Us

VMF-215 operating F4Us

VMF-221 operating F4Us

MABS-1

VMSB-142 operating SBDs

VMTB-232 operating TBFs

VMSB-341 operating SBDs

VMTB-143 operating TBFs

File:MundaFirstAircraft.jpg

The first fighter plane to land on Munda was a VMF-215 Corsair flown by Maj Robert G. Owens, Jr., on August 14, 1943.

Postwar

After the war, the airfield was turned into a commercial airport, used for regional flights by Solomon Airlines.

See also

• Ondonga Airfield
• USAAF in the South Pacific

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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

External links

• Solomon Airlines Routes