Warbird Information Exchange

Are there any known warbird wrecks at Sentani (Jayapura) and Wamena airfields in Irian Jaya, Indonesia ?

Were there any bases there during WW2 ?

Going there next month for a few days.

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

You probably already know about the Pacific Wrecks website, but just in case you don't, here is a partial answer to your question:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/ ... index.html

There's probably more info on that site, you just have to dig. You could also ask in their forum as well, as many, many people intimately familiar with that part of the world participate there.

Thanks Warbird1

Yep , I was just on pacific wrecks , most of the info looks like it's 15 to 20 yrs old.

Looks like a 3 airstrip complex Hollandia, Sentani and Cyclops drones , Hollandia looks interesting as no housing development or aircraft ops.

I'll sound the locals out when I get there.

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

Poor resolution on Google Earth , can't see anything

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

Sorry I wasn't much help. Maybe you can ask Chris, a.k.a. "A2C" on this board. He's been to several places in Indonesia.

Be sure to post pictures of your travels, I'm sure most of us are interested in what those areas look like now.

I'll be surprised if there's any aircraft at all left at Sentani other than some minor assemblies or small parts.

Lake Habbemma near Wamena had a Catalina operating out of there according to Mike Leahy's post on pacific wrecks.

These remote fields (like Wamena) hold more possibility as the only way in or out is by aircraft , there are no roads or rivers.

Wamena (WMX) is becoming a modern day grave yard as it's 5,400ft strip at 5,000 ft elevation and ringed by 10,000 to 12,000ft mountains plus very changeable weather.

This year a BAE-146 was totally destroyed and an airforce C-130 damaged beyond repair (landing gear torn off). Other notables in previous years were a Transall C-160 and an AN-72.

I'll take as many photos as I'm allowed

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

my dad was a u.s. army infantry captain of a rifle company in what was once "dutch new guinea, now irian jaya. he was with company I 155th infantry, 31st dixie division. i've got great japanese aircraft pics posted on on pacific wrecks that he shot. he earned the bronze star at sawar drome, where the pics were taken. go to pacific wrecks, go to veterans category / u.s. army, look for major martin m. friedman & you'll see some great pics shot by dad & his men, not to mention my mug shot hack tooey!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Thanks Tom , I'll check it out

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

it would be great if you could post those pics!! i don't have the tolerance!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Hi Tom,

The photos on pacific wrecks can't be linked.

If you still have copies of them I can put them on my server and post them for you.

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

will do, please pm me your email address. best, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Back in the mid 1990's I visted the very area of Irian Jaya that you are about to explore. In the area of Jayapura (then Hollandia) the USAAF had three airfields clustered fairly close to one another ( Sentani, Hollandia, and Cyclops). Sentani is now the Intl airport, Cyclops was consumed by the nearby town and the remains of Hollandia are readily visible. Actually when you fly into Sentani sit on the RH side of the A/C with camera in hand. You get about a 10 sec view of the field before your plane touches down at Sentani. I was in a Merpati airways DC-9 ..so its quick! But you can explore th field on foot. Go early in the morning when its still cool. See if you can find a bicycle.

I did go up to Wamena (on a Merpati Twin Otter) but there was really nothing there of note at the time. I am not sure if that field is a WWII era strip or not. I sorta feel that it wasn't.

I also was at Biak where there were three contiguous airfields (Sorido, Mokmer and Boroke). As you probably well know these fields were a large dumping ground for B-24's, B-25, A-20, P-38 et.al. following the war. There are no aircraft left whatsoever. Not even a rivet. Sorido became a military barracks area for the Dutch ( now the Indonesian navy), Mokmer is the Intl airport and Boroke was redeveloped by the Dutch into a military airfield and was in derelict condition..there was a derelict Hawker Hunter there. For post WWII photos of the Biak area go to www.biak.nl and click on 'fotos' its all written in Dutch but you can worm your way thru. Lots of photos...it'll make you sick to see all those A/C crunched in on each other.

There is one field in the Biak area that is of interest that being Owi Island ..just a couple of miles off of the coast. I had some natives paddle me there in an outrigger canoe. There is a lot of WWII junk laying around the island...actually a lot of junk but no airplanes. You would need a couple of days to really explore it. A small native community is there as well. Be sure to take water with you!! It's worth the trip.

Check out the Biak area in advance using google.earth as it will put it all in perspective for you. BTW, on google.earth you can see the Hawker Hunter along the west side of a hanger bldg!

I think it would be of interest to visit Wadke Island and Middleburg Island which were big airbases as well. They are hard to get to and would require the charter of a boat. They are along the north coast of Irian Jaya.

That's all I can add at this time. Have a good trip.

JohnV

Here is the National Geographic photo of part of the Biak airplanes.



Scott

Thanks for the detailed post John.

What you've said about the Irian Jaya airfields being picked clean is also true of the airfields on Java. There's a huge scrap metal industry in Indonesia and if an aircraft easy to get to the aircraft would have been scrapped already.

Additionally is items have been buried the soil combined with high rainfall and humidity here eats anything metallic in a few short years.

Where I have had luck is privately owned warehouse cleanouts, I've picked up hundreds of WW2 instruments , NOS P+W R-1830 parts and later model jet aircraft bits and pieces for A4 Skyhawk and F-86.

There's rumored to be a damaged P-51D (engine failure and gear up landing) in an air force warehouse somewhere and I'm still looking for it through my air force contacts , I'm starting to doubt it exists , like any country there's a lot of 'legends' bandied about which is part of the fun

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

Most of the Irian Jaya wrecks were spirited away in the '70s around the time most of the ones in Papua New Guinea went.

Fak Fak still had many Japanese aircraft lying around as it was more inaccessible but have heard that has been cleaned out.

Hollandia had a few pieces of aluminum lying around but over the passage of time the locals have found ingenious uses for them.

Think it's been mentioned before but the best thing to start with is

Pacific Aircraft Wrecks: And Where to Find Them By Charles Darby

Pricey to buy but well worth it.

Charles went around all these places in the '70s and was smart enough to restore some of the ones he found.

These were the days, for instance, when you could fly over an ex Japanese air base in New Ireland where there were around 6 'Tony's', some still on their wheels, sticking out through the undergrowth...Generally,in PNG /Irian Jaya,every field and small piece of clear area had some aircraft wrecks on it.