| Motobu Airfield | |
|---|---|
| Motobu, Okinawa, Japan | |
 Aerial view of Motobu airfield, Okinawa | |
| Coordinates | 26°41′009.15″N127°53′23.90″E / 26.6858750°N 127.8899722°E |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
| Site history | |
| Built | April 1945 |
| In use | 1945 |
Motobu Airfield is a World War II airfield on the Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa, near the East China Sea coast. The airfield was deactivated after 1945.
The airfield was built in April 1945 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and United States Navy Seabees as a combat airfield to support the Army and Marine Corps ground forces during the Battle of Okinawa. It had a 7,000' x 100' single runway and was used as the support field for Headquarters, Fifth Air Force and its subordinate commands on Okinawa from August through October 1945 until they moved to Honshu, Japan for postwar occupation duty.
.* Assigned to nearby town of Hamasaki and used Motobu Airfield for air operations.
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In addition to the Army units, several Navy aviation squadrons used the airfield. Its postwar use is undetermined. Today, parts of the runway can still be seen on aerial photography.
Andrews Air Force Base is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint Base Andrews. Andrews, located near Morningside, Maryland in suburban Washington, D.C., is the home base of two Boeing VC-25A aircraft with the call sign Air Force One when the president is on board, that serve the President of the United States, and the President is typically flown in and out of Andrews when travelling from Washington, D.C. by plane.
Kadena Air Base is a highly strategic United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the "Keystone of the Pacific" because of its highly strategic and geographic location. It is located just 650 km off the coast of China and at a distance of just 770 km from Shanghai, a major economic hub. It is home to the USAF's 18th Wing, the 353rd Special Operations Group, reconnaissance units, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, and a variety of associated units. Over 20,000 American servicemembers, family members, and Japanese employees live or work aboard Kadena Air Base. It is the largest and most active U.S. Air Force base in East Asia.
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Ie Shima Auxiliary Airfield is a training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea. The airfield as such was inactivated after 1946 but part of the former airfield is still used as a training facility for parachute drops and vertical take off and landing aircraft such as the F-35. The facility is referenced as FAC6005 by Okinawa Prefecture.
The 820th Bombardment Squadron is a former Army Air Forces unit, inactivated on 4 January 1946. The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 521st Bombardment Squadron. The squadron was soon engaged in the antisubmarine campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States as the 16th Antisubmarine Squadron.
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Naval Base Okinawa was a number of bases built after the Battle of Okinawa by United States Navy on the Okinawa Island of Japan. The naval bases were built to support the landings on Okinawa on April 1, 1945, and the troops fighting on Okinawa. The Navy repaired and did expansion of the airfields on Okinawa. United States Navy Seabee built or repaired the facilities on the island. The bases on Okinawa put the United States Armed Forces only 350 miles from Japan's home islands. Most facilities closed after the war, but some are still in use today in all branches of the United States Armed Forces.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website https://www.afhra.af.mil/ .
Previously: Philippine Department Air Force (1941); Far East Air Force (1941-1942) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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