Lae Airfield crane above the aircraft. The Lae airport is probably best remembered for being the point of departure in July 1937 for Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan on their flight to Howland Island. Earhart's plane disappeared near Howland Island some 19 hours after departing Lae airport. Lae Airfield Lae Airfield is a former World War II airfield and later, civilian airport located at Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The airport was closed in the 1980s, in favour of Lae Nadzab Airport, which was able to accommodate larger jet aircraft. The airport was known as Lae Drome or Lae Aerodrome
Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea) Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea) Dampier Strait in Papua New Guinea separates Umboi Island and New Britain, linking the Bismarck Sea to the north with the Solomon Sea to the south. The strait is named after the first European to sail through it, British navigator William Dampier in 1700 in . Dampier described his discoveries in his "A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland" Ch. 4 New Britain Discovered in these terms: NEW BRITAIN. The easternmost part of New Guinea lies 40 miles to the westward of this tract of land, and by hydrographers they are made joining together: