Airport type Public Hub for Air Vanuatu 11/29 2,600 Code VLI | Serves Port Vila, Vanuatu Elevation AMSL 68 ft / 21 m Address Port Vila, Vanuatu Elevation 21 m | |
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Operator Airports Vanuatu Limited Similar Europcar, Moorings Hotel, Vanuatu Tourism Office, Unity Airlines ‑ Volcano, Fatumaru Lodge | ||
Air vanuatu taking off from port vila bauerfield international airport
Bauerfield International Airport (IATA: VLI, ICAO: NVVV) is an airport located in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The airport is relatively small in size, but its runway has the capability and length to accept jets up to the Airbus A330. It serves as the hub for Vanuatu's flag carrier airline, Air Vanuatu.
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World War II
With Japanese forces establishing bases on Guadalcanal which threatened the sea route between the U.S. and Australia, Admiral King distributed the joint basic plan for the occupation and defense of Efate on 20 March 1942. Under its terms the US Army was to defend Efate and support the defense of ships and positions. The US Navy's task was: (1) to construct, administer and operate a naval advance base, seaplane base, and harbor facilities; (2) to support Army forces in the defense of the island; (3) to construct an airfield and at least two outlying dispersal fields; (4) to provide facilities for the operation of seaplane-bombers.
On 25 March 1942, the Army sent about 500 men to Efate from Nouméa, and the 4th Defense Battalion, 45th Marines, arrived on 8 April. Elements of the 1st Naval Construction Battalion arrived on Efate on 4 May 1942. The Marines had already cleared a coral 2,000 feet (610 m) by 200 feet (61 m) runway near Port Vila on part of a plantation owned by Henri Russet and the Seabees expanded this to 6,000 feet (1,800 m) by 350 feet (110 m).
The airfield was originally named Efate Field, Vila Field or McDonald Field but was later officially named Bauer Field after Lt-Col. Harold W. Bauer, a fighter pilot in the US Marine Corps who was lost at sea on 14 November 1942 after being shot down during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
USAAF units stationed at Efate Field included:
Postwar
The base was disestablished and abandoned in February 1946.