Aitape, North East New Guinea. First Allied pilots to try out airstrip built by engineers of No. 62 Works Wing RAAF at Tadji greeted by Air Commodore <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Scherger" class="extiw" title="en:Frederick Scherger">F. R. W. Scherger</a> (extreme left) who will control all Allied air operations from captured strips at Aitape. Left to right: Brigadier General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wurtsmith" class="extiw" title="en:Paul Wurtsmith">Paul Wurtsmith</a>, Commanding General, V Fighter Command (pilot of first Allied combat plane to land); Colonel Jack Sverdrup (who squeezed into General Wurtsmith's single-seated Lightning aircraft); Wing Commander W. A. C. Dale, Task Force Engineer, and Colonel Robert Morrissey, Chief of Staff, V Fighter Command (pilot of second Lightning to land). General Wurtsmith's plane is in background.
Harrison, John T.
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