Gusap Airport

Gusap Airport
IATA: GAP – ICAO: AYGP – LID: Gusap Airport Gusap Airport (Papua New Guinea)
Summary
Airport type	Public
Location	Gusap, Papua New Guinea
Elevation AMSL	1,450 ft / 442 m
Coordinates	06°03′12.93″S 145°57′37.23″E / 6.0535917°S 145.9603417°E / -6.0535917; 145.9603417
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03/21 5,250 1,600 Grass
Source: World Aero Data

Gusap Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. (IATA: GAP) located at the base of the Finisterre Range. It has no scheduled commercial airline service.

History

Gusap Airport was built by US Army engineers of the 871st, 872nd and 875th Airborne Aviation Engineer Battalions during World War II, and was developed into major base consisting of ten airstrips and numerous facilities for fighters and light bombers of the Fifth Air Force. Later during the war, the airfield was also a base for Royal Australian Air Force aircraft. The base was built around eight grass runways, with 180 revetments in the complex. The airstrip at Gusap "paid for itself many times over in the quantity of Japanese aircraft, equipment and personnel destroyed by Allied attack missions projected from it."^[1]

Allied units assigned to Gusap Airfield

• Headquarters, 85th Fighter Wing (25 February-24 July 1944)
• Headquarters, 310th Bombardment Wing (1 February-6 May 1944)

• 312th Bombardment Group (1 January–June 1944)

Headquarters, 386th, 387th, 388th, 389th Bomb Squadrons, A-20 Havoc

• 35th Fighter Group (7 February-22 July 1944)

Headquarters, 39th, 41st Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt

• 49th Fighter Group (20 November 1943 – 19 April 1944)

Headquarters, 7th, 8th, 9th Fighter Squadrons, P-40 Warhawk (1943), P-47 Thunderbolt (1944)

See also

• USAAF in the Southwest Pacific

Notes

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• www.pacificwrecks.com

External links

USAAF Fifth Air Force in World War II Previously: Philippine Department Air Force (1941); Far East Air Force (1941-1942) Airfields Pacific USAAF in Australia USAAF in the Southwest Pacific USAAF in Okinawa Units Commands V Bomber V Fighter 5th Interceptor (Provisional) Wings 54th Troop Carrier 85th Fighter 86th Fighter 91st Reconnaissance 308th Bombardment 309th Bombardment 310th Bombardment Groups Air Commando 3d Air Commando Bombardment 3d Bombardment 7th Bombardment 19th Bombardment 22d Bombardment 27th Bombardment 38th Bombardment 43d Bombardment 90th Bombardment 312th Bombardment 345th Bombardment 380th Bombardment 417th Bombardment Combat Cargo 2d Combat Cargo Fighter 8th Fighter 24th Pursuit 35th Fighter 49th Fighter 58th Fighter 348th Fighter 475th Fighter Reconnaissance 6th Reconnaissance 71st Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 317th Troop Carrier 374th Troop Carrier 375th Troop Carrier 433d Troop Carrier Squadrons Bombardment 31st Bombardment Night Fighter 418th Night Fighter 421st Night Fighter 547th Intelligence Reconnaissance 2d Observation 8th Photographic Reconnaissance 36th Photographic Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 21st Troop Carrier 22d Troop Carrier 65th Troop Carrier 66th Troop Carrier United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth