Nadzab Field

  September 1943 to present

  Papua New Guinea

CITY: Lae

IATA/ICAO CODES: LAE / AYNZ

COORDINATES: 6°34'S / 146°44'E

OTHER NAMES: Nadzab Airfield Complex (WWII), Lae Nadzab Airport (present)

Right: Douglas C-47s lined up at Nadzab East Base during the war.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Nadzab is a quiet town upstream of Lae in the Markham Valley. In 1910, the Germans established a Lutheran mission station there.

From March 1942, the Nadzab area was occupied by the Japanese Army. The Japanese did not develop military infrastructure in Nadzab, as they used an airfield closer to Lae. However, Japanese patrols were conducted in the area. The area came under Allied air attacks starting in late March 1943.

On 5 September 1943 the US Army 503^rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and elements of the Australian Army made a paratrooper jump over Nadzab. The drop was successful and met little Japanese resistance in the area. This was the only Allied paratrooper assault on the mainland of New Guinea during World War II. Immediately, the area was developed into a major forward airfield and later a massive airbase and staging area for future operations in the region. This involved the construction of a road between the harbor town of Lae and Nadzab.

Nadzab became the Allies main base in Papua, with an airfield complex including five separate airstrips:

• Nadzab Field No. 1 in the middle;
• Nadzab Field No. 2 to the south, closest to the Markham River;
• Nadzab Field No. 3, aka Texter Field, on the northern side of the complex, dedicated to fighters;
• Nadzab Field No. 4, aka Newton Strip, to the east, primarily used by the RAAF;
• Nadzab Field No. 5, furthest to the north.

These airstrips were built from the onset with all-weather runways made from a mix of gravel, bitumen and Marston Mat (PSP), all inter-connected by taxiways. Nadzab remained under regular Japanese air attacks until January 1944.

Only Fields No.1 & 2, aka East Base, still exist today. They became the site of the Nadzab Lae Airport.

5^th Air Force Headquarters (June 1944 to August 1944)