Bloody Ridge

Our 560 nm flight from Santo to Honiara seemed to pass much quicker than the four hours it actually took. To ensure separation between the Comanche-5 group we maintained communications between aircraft on 123.45 Khz and advised our positions at 30 minute intervals. Such activities along with the usual radio banter between aircraft all helped pass the time; and so we found ourselves on descent into Henderson Field, the war-time aerodrome that now serves as Honiara's airport.

As we brought BAZ down from a cooler cruising altitude we were afforded a commanding overview of Guadalcanal. This seaway is so littered with the remains of WWII warships it is referred to as 'Iron Bottom Sound'. On the downwind leg of our landing circuit for runway 06 we overflew the beaches on which thousands of young American soldiers came ashore in 1942. Base turn for final approach took us past 'Bloody Ridge' and a site off the end of Henderson Field that was home in 1943 for my former Royal New Zealand Air Force squadron, No 3 Squadron, and their Ventura Bombers. Even before we had landed this place radiated a strong aura of war history. 

Bloody Ridge

Claimed by the Jungle 

RNZAF Memorial

Over the next couple of days in Honiara we visited and stood vigil over many significant sites marking one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific campaign of WWII. Places that claimed the young lives of thousands of American and Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen. The average age of an American soldier in this battle was just 18 years!

Guadalcanal was the southernmost extremity of Japan's advance. The battles to control the surrounding sea-lanes and air space over this relatively compact area proved hugely costly for both the Japenese and allied forces. Any surviving veterans of Guadalcanal are now approaching their nineties, and relentlessly the passage of time is also eroding the visible remains of battle. Ships rust and the jungle reclaims its territory…. 

Leaving Honiara behind Comanche-5 flew north west over hundreds of beautiful tropical islands before making landfall again, this time at Gizo in the Western Province. 

Approach to Gizo Airport