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Sia Airfield

defunct airport in Papua New Guinea

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ7506500
Source-derived summary

Sia Airfield, also known as Kiriwina North Drome, was an airfield built on the northern end of Kiriwina Island during the Second World War. It was built by the No. 6 Airfield Construction Squadron RAAF in August 1943 but mainly used by the United States Army Air Forces. The airfield ran roughly northwest to southeast with a taxiway and revetments on each side of the airfield.

Editorial summary

“Sia Airfield” enters the record as defunct airport in Papua New Guinea. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Airfield, defunct and airport can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1943—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Airfield, defunct and airport.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Sia Airfield” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Airfield, defunct and airport provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7506500. Authority coordinates are -8.430, 151.089. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sia Airfield”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sia Airfield primary sources, Sia Airfield archive and Airfield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sia Airfield”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sia Airfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.