| Finschhafen Airport | |
| Iata: | FIN |
| Icao: | AYFI |
| Lid: | FIN |
| Type: | Public |
| Location: | Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea |
| Elevation-F: | 33 |
| Pushpin Map: | Papua New Guinea |
| R1-Number: | 03/21 |
| R1-Length-F: | 5200 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Footnotes: | Source: World Aero Data [1] |
Finschhafen Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. . It is located on the south-east tip of Huon Peninsula at Finschafen. A half mile inland, parallel to Schneider Harbor, with Dregerhaffen to the south-east. It has no scheduled commercial airline service.[2]
The airport was built during World War II in late 1943 by the United States Army 807th and 808th Aviation Engineer Battalions along with the 60th Naval Construction Battalion constructed a 6,000' x 100' coral and steel matting single runway running NNW to SSE. The tower was code named 'Harvest'. In mid-November 1943, the Seabees performed rough grading on the northern end of the strip, and crushed coral for the entire area. On 5 January the 808th departed, and the 60th CB completed the airfield, building fighter and medium bomber hardstands, mostly located to the north, with more to the east and a few on the southern side of the runway. Many aircraft shipped from the United States were assembled at Finschhafen and then flown to other airfields for operations.[3] [4]
Headquarters, 35th, 36th Fighter Squadrons, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt
Headquarters, 7th Fighter Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
Headquarters, 340th, 341st, 342d Fighter Squadrons, P-47 Thunderbolt
Headquarters, 319th Troop Carrier Squadron, C-47 Skytrain
At the war's end, millions of dollars of equipment both new and used was bulldozed into huge holes in the area and abandoned.