Misplaced Pages

Santo International Airport
IATA: SON ICAO: NVSS
Summary
Operator	Airports Vanuatu Limited
Location	Luganville, Vanuatu
Elevation AMSL	184 ft / 56 m
Coordinates	15°30′21″S 167°13′17″E / 15.50583°S 167.22139°E / -15.50583; 167.22139
Map
SONLocation of airport in Vanuatu
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 12/30 6,523 1,988 Asphalt
Sources: World Aero Data, Great Circle Mapper

Santo International Airport is an airport in Luganville on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu (IATA: SON, ICAO: NVSS). The airport used to be called Santo-Pekoa International airport until it was renamed in the Vanuatu AIPV amendment released on 16 June 2021. Airports Vanuatu Limited provides aviation services for the airport.

Airlines and destinations

History

World War II

The 7th Naval Construction Battalion arrived on Santo on 11 August 1942 to begin construction of more extensive Espiritu Santo Naval Base air facilities to support the Guadalcanal Campaign. After completing a second fighter airfield at Turtle Bay they began constructing two bomber fields, one at Palikulo Bay known as Bomber Field No. 1 and the other at Pekoa, known as Bomber Field No. 2. Working in cooperation with a company of the US Army 810th Engineer Aviation Battalion, the 7th CB cleared, graded, and surfaced a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) by 150 feet (46 m) coral runway on the site of a prewar plantation. The 15th CB arrived on Santo on 13 October 1942 and extended the runway to 7,000 feet (2,100 m) with pierced steel planking over a coral base, and built taxiways, revetments, and miscellaneous structures. The completed airfield was operational in December 1942 and was known as "Bomber Field No. 2" or "Pekoa Field".

The Thirteenth Air Force was based at Pekoa from 13 January 1943 until 20 January 1944 when it moved to Carney Airfield on Guadalcanal. Units assigned were:

• Headquarters, XIII Bomber Command, 13 January-20 August 1943
• Headquarters, XIII Fighter Command, 22 January–December 1943
• 5th Bombardment Group, 1 December 1942 – 19 August 1943
• 11th Bombardment Group, 22 July 1942 – 8 April 1943
• 18th Fighter Group, 11 March-17 April 1943
• 4th Reconnaissance Group, 23 January 1943 – 6 May 1944
• 403d Troop Carrier Group, 13 September 1943 – 30 August 1944

As the war moved further north, Pekoa Airfield was closed on 8 February 1945 and all traffic routed to Palikulo Bay Airfield.

Postwar

Luganville Airfield was used as a civilian airstrip until the early 1970s, however as it was on higher ground it was often clouded in and so it was decided to move all operations to the former Pekoa Airfield/Bomber Field No.2 which became Santo-Pekoa International Airport.

Of the four wartime airfields on Espiritu Santo: Turtle Bay Airfield, Palikulo Bay Airfield, Luganville Airfield and Pekoa; Pekoa is the only wartime airfield still in use.

See also

• Luganville Airfield
• Luganville Seaplane Base
• Palikulo Bay Airfield
• Turtle Bay Airfield
• USAAF in the South Pacific

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) . Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.

1. "Santo Pekoa Intl". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. Airport information for Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu (NVSS / SON) at Great Circle Mapper.
3. "AIRAC AIP Supplement" (PDF), Vanuatu AIP AIRAC, Vauatu AIP, 16 June 2021, retrieved 25 March 2022
4. "Air Vanuatu Sep 2024 Domestic Operations". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
5. Building the Navy's Bases in World War II History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps 1940-1946. US Government Printing Office. 1947. p. 228. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
6. Stone, Peter (1997). The Lady and the President: The life and loss of the S.S. President Coolidge. Oceans Enterprises. p. 65. ISBN 9780958665728.

External links

• Airports Vanuatu Ltd.

v t e USAAF Thirteenth Air Force in World War II
Airfields	Pacific USAAF in the South Pacific USAAF in the Southwest Pacific
Units	Commands XIII Bomber XIII Fighter Groups Fighter 18th Fighter 347th Fighter 414th Fighter Bomber 5th Bombardment 11th Bombardment 42d Bombardment 307th Bombardment Reconnaissance 4th Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 403d Troop Carrier Squadrons Bombardment 100th Bombardment 868th Bombardment Night Fighter 418th Night Fighter 419th Night Fighter 550th Night Fighter Reconnaissance 4th Photographic Charting 17th Photographic Reconnaissance 36th Photographic Reconnaissance 38th Photographic Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 13th Troop Carrier
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

• Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
• Airports in Vanuatu
• Espiritu Santo
• Sanma Province
• Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the Pacific Ocean Theater
• 1942 establishments in the New Hebrides
• Seabees