PAPUA NEW GUINEA   

                                                    The legacy of World War II

At the end of 1981 Ray and I left New Zealand for  a two year contract in Lae Papua New Guinea.

One of the more interesting sites we came across on our stay in PNG in 1982 was during a visit to  Alexishafen, north of Madang.  There we came across a WWII Japanese airfield where Nakajima Ki49  bombers   (known as Helen bombers by  the

Allies) were standing ready for dispersal.

Bomb craters dot  the length of the Japanese airfield.

Here Ray inspects an abandoned tank.

Bombs dropped on the airfield by the Allies made escape impossible. The planes were then paraflagged.

A parachuted bomb was used to pepper the grounded planes with shrapnel   -   rendering them useless.

The remains of an aeroplane motor