Quote Originally Posted by Rolly View Post
Hmmm, not sure what I think of that article,....never let the truth get in the way of a good argument! I flew into quite a few airstrips on the islands north of P.N.G which MacArthur had established as his forward bases and they were very Impressive. Very little Marsden matting and mostly coronis(crushed coral)this was in the late 90's , so even 50 years after the war their still in good nick!. Goodenough Isl airstrip was the closest and from memory about 3k long. This article mentions none of these. There are also numerous U.S strips north of the equator which whilst no longer commissioned were still very much in the back of my mind as I plodded my way across the pacific from AU towards LAX. They could be set back up fairly quickly.
I think the issue was with the number, the length, the strength, & space for stores & ordnance / fuel , on islands in Australia's ' area of influence. ' I dare say the Americans would have sorted their areas of interest out, although with their carrier fleet it may not be such a priority.