Not a Poor Man's Field: Papua New Guinea

Early flight ticket

DH83 Fox Moth owned by Guinea Airways. Arrived on field in March 1933. Destroyed at Salamaua by Japanese, 21 January 1942.

Les Trist and Frank Drayton. Les Trist died in an air crash near the Wampit Gap in May 1931 and Drayton at the bottom of Wau 'drome in December 1932.

Salamaua 'drome, with the Francisco River top and bottom.

Fuselage of Junkers G31 ‘Paul’ being unloaded from the Temeraire, 31 December 1930. Despite Salamoa being identified as the destination, the plane was unloaded at Lae.

One of 'Paul’s' three engines after unloading at Lae.

Arrival of Junkers G31 'Paul' at Wau, 23 April 1931.

One load carried by G31, 1931: the Austin (page 17), a safe and sacks of rice.

Bulolo aerodrome on the day of the launch of dredge No. 1, 21 March 1932. Note three G31s lined up in front of dredge, 2 W34s in foreground and Les Holden's 'Canberra' on left. Game of cricket under way.

Unloading 'Peter'.

Unloading G31 at Bulwa.

Junker G31 controls.

‘Paul’ being retrieved from the grass at Bulolo after a brake failure on landing. This event is described in Chester Mayfield’s recollections - [Click here for the document]

The crane at Lae was pivotal to Bulolo Gold Dredging’s success. It ran on railway tracks linking the jetty at Voco Point to the aerodrome a distance of 1,200 yards. The water at Lae was too deep for the construction of a jetty capable of mooring large ships, so ships had to stand offshore, loading everything onto lighters. The crane would then unload the lighters before conveying everything to the aerodrome where it would in due course load them onto aeroplanes for Bulolo and Bulwa.

The first crane and 100 yards of railway line were lost early in September 1932 when 5 acres of land slipped into the sea. The second crane was shipped immediately from Sydney and by the end of October was fully operational and a new and longer jetty was under construction. The second crane remained in use until being destroyed in January 1942 as part of the Australian Army’s scorched earth policy. See photo on page 212 of my book.