Qualla: Landing at Nadzab

Landing at Nadzab: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit US Army., Public domain. They're my kids, too, said Douglas MacArthur. That was how he got aboard the B-17. General George Kenney had announced he was going to fly over Nadzab on 5 September 1943 to watch the first American airborne combat drop of the war, citing the cost of staying behind a desk. MacArthur reminded him of the orders against commanders flying into combat, the orders Brigadier General Kenneth Walker had ignored and died for. Kenney said the paratroopers were his kids and he meant to see them do their stuff. MacArthur thought it over, then said he would come along. Both of them would watch, in separate B-17s, as 79 C-47 transports dropped the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment into a disused grass airstrip in the Markham Valley.

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Image: US Army. | Public domain

Landing at Nadzab: An Airfield Nobody Used

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Nadzab was barely anything before that morning. It was a gap in the grass of the Markham Valley, a former emergency landing ground, with no defenders and no runway worth the name. The plan was to take it, clear it, and turn it into the air base that would cut off the Japanese str...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Landing at Nadzab: 302 Aircraft Over One Valley

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The first C-47 took off at 0820. Seventy-nine transports, each carrying 19 or 20 paratroopers of the 503rd, rose in three flights, one battalion to each. They were escorted by 48 P-38 Lightnings, 12 P-39 Airacobras, and 48 P-47 Thunderbolts. Forty-eight B-25s from the 38th and 34...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Landing at Nadzab: A Quiet Landing

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. There was no Japanese air opposition. There was almost no opposition at all. Only one C-47 failed to make the drop, when its cargo door blew off in flight and damaged its elevator; it returned to base safely. The three battalions landed in empty grass. The hardest part of the mor...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Landing at Nadzab: The Cost Came Later

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The landing itself was almost bloodless. The larger costs came in the days that followed. The first transport aircraft landed at Nadzab the next morning with reinforcements, but bad weather slowed the Allied buildup. Over the following days the 25th Infantry Brigade of the Austra...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Landing at Nadzab: What Nadzab Became

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. Once the Markham Valley Road was improved enough to bring supplies overland - a process delayed by wet weather until 15 December 1943 - Nadzab became the major Allied air base in New Guinea. By war's end, it had six runways and could handle hundreds of aircraft at a time. Today i...

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Image: U.S. Army Center of Military History | Public domain