Biak AAF

  1942 to present

  Indonesia

CITY: Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia

IATA/ICAO CODES: BIK / WABB

OTHER NAMES: Biak AAF, Mokmer Field, Bandar Udara International, Frans Kaisiepo International

Mokmer Field was built by the Japanese in 1942 after they invaded the island of Biak, off the north coast of Papua in the Dutch East Indies. Japan attempted to build a second military airfield right next to Mokmer, but they was never completed it. After a succession of Japanese defeats in 1943 and 1944 along the northern coast of New Guinea, the Japanese turned Biak into a stronghold, which they were determined to hold to the last man. Allied troops landed at Biak on 27 May 1944 and took the island after a month of fierce fighting.

With the most complex equipment of that time, the Americans and Australians built many military facilities on Biak, including air services for troop mobility, a logistic hub, and a defense base. Allied forces transformed Mokmer Field into an airbase complex now called Biak AAF, with two nearby auxiliary airfields: Borokoe due west along the beach, and Sorido to the northwest. Mokmer Field's runway was extended by a kilometer, to 3,000 x 40m. Biak AAF became a strategic base for the USAAF and the RAAF in the southwest Pacific.

Allied troops ended their presence in Biak in 1945. Postwar, the airfield complex became a major reclamation site for all types of surplus Allied aircraft.

1550^th AAF Base Unit (Biak AAF)

54^th Troop Carrier Wing (October 1944 to February 1945)

2^nd Combat Cargo Group (November 1944 to May 1945)

2^nd Combat Cargo Group, 5^th Combat Cargo Squadron (November 1944 to May 1945)

2^nd Combat Cargo Group, 7^th Combat Cargo Squadron (November 1944 to May 1945)

374^th Troop Carrier Group (October 1944 to May 1945)

375^th Troop Carrier Group (October 1944 to May 1945)

433^rd Troop Carrier Group (November 1944 to February 1945)

67^th Troop Carrier Squadron (October 1944 to January 1945)