Rapopo Gazelle Peninsula WW2 airfield - Papua New Guinea Aviation

An aerial photograph taken from a 5th U.S.A.A.F. aircraft, most likely a P38 lightning[F5] over the former Japanses army air base at Rapopo.

You drive accross the old main runway when you travel between Tokua airport and Kokopo.

Up untill the early 1980's Rapopo could be considered as one of the better preserved and easily accessable Japanese wartime aerodromes as all the aircraft revetments were untouched and there were numerous aircraft powerplants and other bits and pieces of aircraft types lying about .

There were even a few of the old servicing vehicles to be seen but THEN someone decided that the area had to be redeveloped for cocoa replanting so most everything was shoved into bomb craters and buried and the old revetments and other earthworks bulldozed.

In the photograph a number of abandoned aircraft can be seen.

Cna you you pick the different models??.