The unknown airstrip shown is, I believe,. Kainteba.
I have no idea who took the picture but it was very early days in the strips - and appears as it was when I made the first flight into it.
It is/was about 45nm n.e. of Terapo and part of the Yule Island Catholic Mission dynasty.
Ron Firns - owner of Stol Air - checked me into the strip in a C185 - deemed me competent - and so DCA allowed me to operate into it.
I later learned Ron had never landed at the strip and that flight covered my airfield approval and allowed DCA to licence it.
Ron donated every second Sunday of my times off to the Catholic Mission and, as a result I flew the newest a/c in PNG at that time - a turbo 300hp 206 -VH-MYI - newly purchased by the Mission.
The Mission had a full time pilot who was pretty timid and inexperienced so when the 206 arrived and he only flew around the Papuan Gulf's coastal flat lands.
Every second Sunday Beverly - my wife - flew the 206 to Terapo with me in the RH seat.
On arrival Bev would depart with Father Michel Gasser - boss of the Terapo Mission while I, after loading with stores and supplies, took the C206 off to Kainteba.
The photo depicts the dilemma I was faced with to land in one piece.
The first and only landing I'd made there was in the C185 was easy but the C206 was a different kettle of fish.
MYI was a pig of an aircraft - heavy to fly and with much less performance than the C185.
The photo accurately records what I remember of the view on short finals
but just behind the photographer is a very,very steep valley with a ridge which was higher than the top of Kainteba strip.
The photo shows a 10-15 .ft. barrett at the top of the strip which came about as a result of creating the parking bay - a small pad which barely allowed a Cessna to pause.
When parked the port wheel was about three feet from the strips end and the stbd. wing tip had similar clearance at the top of the bay.
The procedure I devised for the 206 was to overfly the head of the strip ensuring its surface was clear and servicable - break left onto downwind maintaining normal cruise speed and altitude while heading south and turning sharply to the left and diving as if to loop at a point about 100ft below the photographer.
At the appropriate time I closed the throttle - went full fine and climbed up the first section of the strip.
That put me in a position where I could decide to land straight ahead up the slope or break left at the hollow.
I never had reason to break left but passing over the first ridge I selected full flap (fortunately it was driven electrically and so I had time to apply full back trim.).
At this point there was no "go around" availability.
Landing was achieved by - just as flap reached full extension - applying full power prior to impact, hauling full back stick and after landing relying upon power and inertia to reach the pad.
I can't recall the gradient listing DCA applied to Kainteba but it was over 40% by my calcs.
After the first flight of the day to Kainteba I flew air-drops to a place called Bema.
Bema was a Catholic Mission about 40nm west of Kainteba.
It was nestled on a chalk cliff and resembled a Swiss/French alpine village.
A semi pound existed to the west and south of Bema.
To do aerial drops the cargo doors of MYI were removed.
A right hand turn drop would have resulted in items falling considerable distance so I devised an outside left turn (full left rudder and sufficient right aileron for the droppers to see their target).
Apart from supplies we dropped a segmented D4 Cat. Dozer along with many cylinders of Oxygen and Acetylene.
I'm lead to believe the D4 had been dissected by a bloke in PWD who later trekked in - welded the D4 back together and it was used to make Bema strip.
Returning to Kainteba, I was tasked with training and endorsing the CM's pilot into Kainteba.
He achieved the required standard and I signed him out.
His first flight to Kainteba was Terapo- Biamuru -Kainteba.
Shortly after take-off from Biamuru a duck hit and shattered his windscreen with shards piercing all of his upper body.
Bleeding profusely and nearly blinded he managed to to fly back to Terapo.
I know he survived but nothing more.
Were any further flights made into Kainteba.
I understand Bema became operational.
Purely by chance I came upon this site while trying to confirm details of a flight I made with Keith Tetley as charterer - pissed as a parrot and lying in a drunken stupor on the rear floor of a C185 on a flight from POM to KIK on 30 Dec 1967.
If any of you blokes feel like communicating my email address is -
[email protected]