2020 – Page 2 – Red Dirt Research

An interactive map of the airfields on Biak and Owi islands, Dutch New Guinea.

The 345th Bomb Group spent most of July 1944 moving their camp from Nadzab to their new home on Biak. The 501st Squadron flew their last mission out of Hollandia on July 5 and then their planes returned to Nadzab. The ground echelon was moved by C-47 transports. Heavy equipment, such as trucks and trailers, were shipped by sea. B-25’s were used to move equipment and building materials. The flight echelon finally moved on July 23 and their first mission from Biak was made on July 27. The Unit History of the 501st says only that their camp was three miles from Mokmer, along the coastal road.

There were three airfields on Biak: Mokmer, Sorido, and Borokoe. The 345th flew their missions out of Mokmer drome. There was also a new airfield on the nearby island of Owi and the headquarters of V Bomber Command and the 5th Air Force set up there along with some fighter and bomber groups.

**Part of** ***a 1953 Dutch map of the Schouten Islands showing the airdrome areas on Biak and Owi Islands. Digital map image courtesy of*** ***the Open Research Repository, Australian National University.***

As was customary, engineers set about improving the airfields once the enemy had been driven off of them. Even as that work was underway, allied ground troops continued to ferret the enemy out of caves in the hills only a few hundred yards to the north of the airfields.

**A photomosaic of the three Biak airfields, from a May 1944** ***terrain study.*** ***Right to left, the airfields are: Mokmer, Borokoe, and Sorido. Digital copy of the geographic report courtesy of*** ***the Online Collections Repository of the Monash University Libraries.***

As the weeks went by and new targets were farther away, Morotai Island and a new airfield near Sansapor, Dutch New Guinea were used as staging sites. Then, in October 1944, the order was again given to pack up for another move, this time to island of Leyte in the Philippines.

On October 12 the 501st ground echelon boarded the troop transport S.S. Charles Loomis and made for Lae. There they transferred to the liberty ship S.S. Morrison R. Waite and on the 19th sailed to rendezvous with a convoy at Hollandia. They reached Hollandia on October 20 and left again on the 23rd in a thirty-two ship convoy. They dropped anchor in Leyte Gulf, off Dulag, on October 29.

The flight echelon remained behind and continued to fly missions from Mokmer drome until late December. The 501st flew their last mission from Biak on December 26 and then flew their first mission from Leyte the next day.

Mokmer drome survives today as Frans Kaisiepo International Airport.