Qualla: Owi Airfield https://qualla.com/owi-airfield en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Owi Airfield https://qualla.com/owi-airfield Owi Airfield: Introduction https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ The construction crew had three weeks. General Douglas MacArthur gave the order on 6 June 1944, which made it the same day as D-Day on the other side of the planet, and the war in the Pacific was still running short on airfields within range of the Philippines. The 864th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived on tiny Owi Island, two kilometers off Biak's south coast in Cenderawasih Bay, and discovered that building a heavy bomber base here was going to be unusually simple. They scraped the topsoil off. Underneath was white coral - a ready-made runway bed, hard enough for B-24 Liberators, flat enough to level by hand. The field was operational on 22 June, sixteen days after it was ordered built. For the next fifteen months it was one of the busiest Fifth Air Force bases in the Southwest Pacific. Today it is almost entirely overgrown.

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Owi Airfield: Coral in Three Weeks https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ B Company of the 864th Engineer Aviation Battalion stepped ashore on 8 June 1944. The rest of the battalion arrived by 11 June. The engineering challenge was straightforward by wartime standards - a few dozen acres of scrub forest, a few meters of sandy topsoil, and beneath it th...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-coral-in-three-weeks.mp3 0:06 2 full Owi Airfield: The Air Force That Lived There https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ Headquarters of the Fifth Air Force moved to Owi in August 1944. So did V Bomber Command and V Fighter Command. The bomber groups included the 22nd and the 43rd, both flying B-24 Liberators on long missions against Japanese airfields, oil facilities, and shipping lanes across the...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-the-air-force-that-lived-there.mp3 0:06 3 full Owi Airfield: Bob Hope Came https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ On 24 August 1944, Bob Hope brought his traveling troupe to Owi Island. Hope had been performing for Allied troops across the Pacific that summer - in Australia, New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands - and Owi was one stop among many. The troupe included singer Frances Langford, guit...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-bob-hope-came.mp3 0:06 4 full Owi Airfield: After the War https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945. Within weeks, the Fifth Air Force pulled out of Owi. The B-24s flew home or to scrap yards. The P-38s and P-47s were crated up for disposal. The engineers departed. The 864th Aviation Engineer Battalion was deactivated. What remained was the...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-after-the-war.mp3 0:06 5 full Owi Airfield: From the Air Today https://qualla.com/owi-airfield/ Fly the Biak approach today - Biak's civilian airport, Frans Kaisiepo, has a 3,570-meter runway inherited from its own wartime past - and Owi Island appears just off the south coast. Look down on it from altitude and you see the runway as a pale straight line cutting through the ...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/b/owi-airfield-wp/rpbb-owi-airfield-from-the-air-today.mp3 0:06 6 full