75 years of MAF’s journey with PNG

Story by Matt Painter and Laurence Whitehead

This year in our Papua New Guinea programme, we celebrate 75 years of impact in this nation of spectacular landscapes and hard-to-reach places. 

The size of our team has grown over the decades, and our aviation tools have dramatically changed – but our mission remains centred on serving the church and communities that would otherwise be cut-off from essentials such as education and healthcare.

In 1951, MAF commenced operations in what was then the Territory of New Guinea. In April, Harry Hartwig of Australia and Bob Hutchins of the USA ferried an Auster Autocar aeroplane from Bankstown in Australia to Madang. Their wives, Margaret Hartwig and Betty Hutchins, made the journey by ship, arriving three weeks later. Harry's role was primarily that of pilot and Bob's, that of engineer/pilot. They were very busy.

Only about four months later, the very survival of this new venture was in doubt when Harry was tragically killed. His aeroplane collided with terrain in the Asaroka Gap on a flight from the highlands to Madang on the north coast.

In mid-1952, the rebuilding of MAF services in this region took shape. American Grady Parrot and his family arrived in Madang to work with Bob Hutchins in recommencing the work. A Cessna 170, VH-AMF, owned by the Lutheran Mission, commenced flights into the interior on 4th August, 1952. Again, the demand for flights was high, a second C170 was ordered before the year was out, and another Australian family, Charlie and Dorothy Rasmussen arrived to join the work.

Things began to move fast. 

In 1953, MAF began setting up an operation in Wewak, also on the north coast, with a Piper PA-20 Pacer registered VH-MFA. The aircraft was based at Borom and was used in the development of mission work in the Telefomin area (Australian Baptist Missionary Society), around Maprik (Assemblies of God), west of Maprik (South Seas Evangelical Mission) and further west, towards the then Dutch New Guinea border (Christian Missions in Many Lands). 

In 1955 the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) purchased a Cessna 170 aircraft, VH-BUX, which was based at Banz and operated by MAF on behalf of the New Guinea Lutheran Mission (now the Gutnius Lutheran Church). Flying from its highland base, it undertook the necessary flying for the mission centred at Wabag.

In 1958, MAF began setting up another highland base in Tari, initially with a Cessna 170 and later with a Cessna 180. This met the needs of the development in mission outreach in the Southern Highlands of Papua by the Methodist Overseas Mission and the Unevangelised Fields Mission (now Pioneers).

In 1961, Doug and Glen Hunt became the first of a very long line of New Zealanders on the team.

In the following year, 1962, yet another base was set up, this time in Wasua in the lowlands of the Fly River area, the site of the Headquarters of the Unevangelised Fields Mission.

The year also saw the introduction of the Cessna 185, complete with cargo pod (known locally as the bel of the aeroplane, meaning its ‘stomach’).

In 1965 MAF began serving the Anglican Mission in the Oro Bay and Port Moresby region.

In 1966 new bases were opened in Buka, Bougainville, and in Anguganak, in the Sepik.

The workhorse of mission aviation for decades to come then arrived on the scene: the ubiquitous Cessna 206 joined the fleet in 1968, blessed with a turbocharger for highland elevations. Also in this year, MAF moved from Banz to the new Kagamuga airport in Mount Hagen.

Operations in Bougainville flourished to the point where Bougainville Air Service (BAS) was formed in 1971 from the work commenced by Harold and Hope Morton at Buka. The operation utilised three single engine aircraft and saw the introduction of the first Britten-Norman Islander aircraft into the MAF fleet, operating on scheduled services.

In 1974 MAF's first twin-engine aircraft for operations on mainland PNG was introduced: a Beechcraft Baron.

In 1981, with assistance from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Wuerttemberg, MAF purchased a Cessna 402C aircraft, P2-MFO, for longer flights throughout Papua New Guinea. The aircraft was based at Port Moresby and was used on routes to the highlands, the distant Western Province, Milne Bay and the islands region.

In 1986, MAF introduced two game-changers: The Twin Otter and the Flight Training Centre. 

The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter massively boosted the programme’s load-carrying capability. The 18-passenger aeroplane made short work of large passenger loads for church or mission conferences, and carried large cargo loads of cash crops from remote communities such as coffee – or even single piece plastic water tanks.

A Flight Training Centre was established in Mount Hagen with a Cessna 172, giving Papua New Guineans an opportunity to learn to fly with MAF. The first students graduated in 1990 at a special ceremony in Port Moresby. 

In the late 80s, MAF introduced the Britten-Norman Islander, more Twin Otters and a synthetic flight trainer to the fleet.

In the 90s, bases were established in Vanimo and Rumginae.

In 1996, the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators awarded MAF with the Grand Master’s Medal for ‘successful exploitation of air transport to meet the spiritual and humanitarian needs of indigenous peoples over a period of almost 50 years’.

The following year, MAF responded to severe drought, frosts and famine in both Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Irian Jaya (now Papua), Indonesia). Then, in 1998, MAF responded to the Aitape tsunami disaster.

Hagar Kuliniasi graduated from the Mt Hagen Flight Training Centre in 1999. She became the first Papua New Guinean to hold a PNG Flight Instructor Rating, the first instructor to have trained and qualified entirely within the country, and likely the first woman in PNG to gain an Instructor's Rating.

In 2005, Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship became part of MAF, the GippsAero GA8 Airvan entered service and MAF’s fleet colours changed from brown and yellow to blue and red.

In 2008, the first Cessna 208 Caravan joined the PNG fleet, and has since become the programme’s sole aircraft type.

In 2010, MAF’s Learning Technologies ministry began, providing learning experiences for life and ministry to isolated pastors and church leaders. Subsidised Bibles and audio Bibles began to be sold from a Bible Box at the back of the MAF plane.

In 2024, MAF once again added an amphibious aircraft to its fleet, with the Cessna Caravan P2-WET beginning service in the Western Province.

In 2025, MAF returned to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, beginning impact with solar lighting and radio communication for isolated health clinics.

And today, in 2026, MAF celebrates 75 years of God’s provision in serving the church and remote communities of this special nation.

Our team still has those who’ve come from all over the world, bringing their skills because of their love for the people of PNG. But today, the vast majority of our team are locals with a heart to reach their own nation in a new generation of mission.

There have been many things to celebrate, thousands of lives impacted, but there have also been many challenges along the way. Even after Harry Hartwig, other pilots have indeed given their very lives to the work. 

Margaret Baldock, Harry’s widow, only recently passed away.

“I couldn’t see how, with all that had gone before, it could ever start up again,” she said in 2024. “Now I've gotten a bit older, and I’ve realised it was God's work anyway. 

“He looked after it and cared for it, and I think it was partly because of the accident that He raised up many young people who became interested, and the prayer certainly increased over that period of time.”

This year, we give thanks.

We give thanks to the many who have supported the work in prayer and through giving, and we give thanks to God as we look to the future.