Type Military airfield Year built 1943 | In use 1943–1944 | |
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Controlled by | ||
Tsili Tsili (Tsile-Tsile) Airfield is a former World War II airfield in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today has almost totally returned to its natural state.
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History
The area was occupied by Allied forces in the middle of June 1943. The field was hastily constructed by the United States Army 871st Airborne Engineers. All supplies, food, fuel and equipment had to be flown into the base via C-47s from Port Moresby. The first fighters were based at the airfield from the 26 July. This forward base allowed fighters to escort longer-range bombers in attacks on targets as far away as Japan's major new airbases at Wewak.
The Japanese command at Wewak discovered the Tsili-Tsili airfield and launched preemptive attacks on 15 and 16 August 1943, inflicting casualties, but little damage to the airfield. On 17 and 18 August, Allied forces launched a series of large attacks that first bombed and then strafed all four Japanese airfields at Wewak, heavily damaging many aircraft and facilities. As a result, Japan finally lost air superiority over New Guinea.
Major USAAF units assigned
Other known units at Tsili Tsili were the USAAF 2nd Air Task Force, which was formed for operations around Lae (5 August 1943) and the RAAF 24 Squadron (Vultee Vengeance) in November 1943 and 4 Squadron (Boomerang) September 1943 - January 1944.