sentences:  The Japanese Army transferred some 1,500 British and Australian prisoners of war from Singapore to work on the airfield.Commencing in August 1942, the prisoners, along with thousands of Javanese- and local labourers, built the airfield by hand, including a runway, on a site composed of tufa.The airfield received its first flight in December 1942, when General Yamawaki Masataka landed in a bomber aircraft and declared the airfield open.