Heavy bomber hardstands at Nadi?

[steveb]

I have a series of photos of B-17s and crews reportedly taken at Nadi in the first half of 1943, but nobody seems to be 100% sure of exactly where they were taken.

Unfortunately, there are no wide views but there appear to be areas of Marston matting and what look to be low grassy blast walls in the background of the photos. Here is an example - Captain Morris Slack and his crew with 41-2463 Yankee Doodle.



I presume that an RNZAF unit might have taken over these areas when the B-17s left Fiji later in 1943, so I’m hoping someone here might be able to confirm that such installations were there.

Can anyone help?

[davidd]

The RNZAF did not take over Nadi in 1943, in fact they did not use it much at all for rest of WW2 as all operations were flown from Nausori on the south east coast, or from Laucala Bay (flying boats only). I think the USAAF was the controlling authority for the Nadi complex, probably till shortly after the end of WW2. Nadi was actually part of a complex on the low lying area inland from Nadi Bay, which encompassed four fields, of which three were linked together by taxiways. The 4th field was Griffiths (2 strips?), which was probably the smallest field (used only by fighters) and was separated from the others by a river. The other fields were Narewa (fighters only, 3 strips I think), and another single-strip field (known as Martins) half way between that field and Nadi. Nadi was the biggest and best of the fields, with one of the runways ending at the water's edge on the Bay.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

And of course Griffiths Field was named after the wonderfully colourful RNZAF pilot Eric Griffiths who sadly killed himself in a USAAF Bell P-39 Airacobra.

[steveb]

Thanks - I've added a photo to show you the location I'm asking about. Is it Nadi?

[Dave Homewood]

I think that will be way too hard to tell where it was taken to be honest.

[pjw4118]

There are some photos in the CAA Abroad section under Mini Coral Route trip which show some of the Nadi complex.

[Dave Homewood]

Excellent Peter, here's the link:
rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/26961/mini-coral-route-trip

[steveb]

For what it's worth, I believe the photo was taken at Nadi. The other two possibilities, Espiritu Santo or Henderson Field are less likely for any number of reasons.