16 |FLIGHTPATH
located there. Travelling to Aitape is diffi-
cult,withtheeasiestmeansofreachingthe
townshipviaa170kmfour-wheeldrivetrip
from Wewak along the mainly unsurfaced
roadintotheareafromtheeast.Depending
on the conditions and the depth of river
crossings,thetripcantakeanywherefrom
fourhourstoawholeday–anditisanoisy
andbumpydayatthat!
The journey is rewarded, however, when
youarewelcomedintoAitapebythewreck
of the B-25C Mitchell ‘Feather Merchant’
which stands guard over the local high
schoolontheroadintotown.Originally
assigned to the USAAF 13th Bombardment
Squadron, the aircraft (although in various
different identities) flew missions against
theJapaneseinNewGuineafromPort
MoresbybeginninginMay1942.Itsawcon-
tinualcombatserviceuntilearly
whenitwasconvertedtoa‘fatcat’supply
and transport aircraft. It was in this guise
thatitwasdumpedatTadjiattheendof
the war. The aircraft sat derelict at the air-
fielduntilitwasresurrectedbyDarbyin
1974,atwhichtimeitwasmovedtoitspre-
sent location outside of the school and set
upasamemorial,albeitwithatailsection
taken from another B-25 that had been
shot down near Dagua.A visit to the ‘drome
Theaerodromeitselfliestotheeastof
Aitape, and is very easy to find as the road
into town passes between the two airstrips.
The former bomber strip is still utilised as
the local airfield (flights into the area do not
seemtobeverycommon)andretainsa
largeamountofitswartimePiercedSteel
Planking–atestamenttotheeffectiveness
and durability of that material. The over-
grownandunusedfighterstrip,alongwith
themajorityoftheaircraftremains,islo-
cated north of the road and on land split be-
tween several villages. We were advised of
theimportanceofdealingwiththeright
landowner when venturing onto such sites
in Papua New Guinea, as disputes overpropertycanescalateveryquicklyinaplace
wherelandownershipisofgreatimpor-
tance. Having made contact with the right
people in two locations we planned to visit,
and after the completion of negotiations to
gainaccess,weheadedouttothesites.
Afterashortjourneythroughthejungle
using the old airfield roads, the first location
wevisitedwasthe12RSUworkssiteand
the final resting place of several RAAF
Beauforts. Located north of the fighter strip
towards the western end of that runway,
this is perhaps the most well-known war-
time site in the Aitape district, having been
the focus of several salvage projects in the
pastandwelldocumentedbyvisitorstothe
area.Todayitretainsthemajorstructural
components of no less than nine individual
Beaufort airframes, along with large
amountsofsmallercomponentsthathad
been removed and stockpiled around the
site, presumably a result of either 12 RSU ef-
fort or later salvage campaigns. While iden-
tification of the majority of the wreckage