Johnston Island Air Force Base is a former

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

base on the

Johnston Atoll Johnston Atoll is an Unincorporated territories of the United States, unincorporated territory of the United States, currently administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Johnston Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and ...

in the

United States Minor Outlying Islands The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code. The entry code is ISO 3166-2:UM. The minor outlying islands and groups of islands consist ...

, in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers southwest of Hawaii. After its closure, it briefly operated as

Johnston Atoll Airport Johnston Atoll Airport is located on the Johnston Atoll in the United States Minor Outlying Islands, in the Pacific Ocean 717 nautical miles (1328 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii. It was an active U.S. military facility during the 20th century, ...

, until that also closed in 2005.

History

In 1935 personnel from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

's Patrol Wing Two carried out some minor construction to develop the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

operations. They erected some buildings and a boat landing on Sand Island and blasted coral to clear a seaplane landing. In November 1939 further work by civilian contractors commenced on Sand Island to allow the operation of one

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

of patrol planes with

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

support. Part of the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

was

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

and the excavated material was used to make a plane parking area connected by a causeway to Sand Island. Three seaplane landings were cleared; one of them was , and the other two were cross-landings, each and dredged to a depth of . On Sand Island,

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

for 400 men, a mess hall, an underground hospital, a radio station, water tanks, and a steel control tower were built. In February 1941, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

designated Johnston Atoll a Naval Defensive Sea Area and Airspace Reservation. In September 1941, construction of an airfield on Johnston Island commenced. A

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

was built together with two 400-man barracks, two mess halls, a cold-storage building, an underground hospital, a fresh-water plant, shop buildings, and fuel storage facilities. The base was complete by the time of the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

on 7 December 1941.

World War II

On 15 December 1941, the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

submarine shelled Johnston Atoll from outside the reef, hitting several buildings but injuring no personnel. In July 1942 the civilian contractors at the atoll were replaced by 500

Seebee , colors = , mascot = Bumblebee , battles = Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Los Negros, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Philippines ...

s from the 5th and 10th Naval Construction Battalions, who expanded the fuel storage and water production at the base and built additional facilities. The 5th Battalion departed in January 1943. In December 1943 the 99th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to and add an additional of parking to the seaplane base. U.S. Navy and

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

units based at Johnston Atoll during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

included: * VB-102 operating PB4Y-1 Liberators from 28 February to 22 April 1943 * VB-104 operating PB4Y-1s from 11 April to 14 August 1943 * VB-142 operating PV-1 Venturas from 28 August to 11 November 1943 * VB-148 operating PV-2 Harpoons from 7 June to 16 August 1945 *

VP-11 Patrol Squadron 11 (VP-11), nicknamed ''Proud Pegasus'', was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island on 15 May 1952 and was disestablished on 2 August 1997. It was the fourth squadron to ...

operating PBY-5 Catalinas from 30 April to 1 July 1942 * VP-13 operating PB2Y-3 Coronados from 1 March to 19 November 1943 *

VP-23 VP-23, Patrol Squadron 23, known as the ''Seahawks'', was a U.S. Navy fixed-wing, anti-submarine and maritime Patrol Squadron based at Brunswick Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine, United States. It was established as Weather Reconnaissance Squa ...

operating PBY-5s from 7 December 1941 to 8 July 1942

Post- World War II

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units based at Johnston Atoll after World War II included: *

VP-4 Patrol Squadron Four (VP-4) is a U.S. Navy land-based patrol squadron based at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor, Washington, which is tasked to undertake maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and intelligence, surveillance ...

operating SP-2H Neptunes from 22 January to July 1966 *

VP-6 VP-6 was a long-lived Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy, nicknamed the ''Blue Sharks''. Originally established as Bombing Squadron VB-146 on 15 July 1943, it was redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-146 on 1 October 1944, redesignated VP-146 on ...

operating P2V-5FS Neptunes in July 1962 in support of nuclear testing *

VP-28 VP-28 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established as Bombing Squadron 108 (VB-108) on 1 July 1943, redesignated Patrol Bombing Squadron 108 (VPB-108) on 1 October 1944, redesignated Patrol Squadron 108 (VP-108) on 15 May 1 ...

operating P2V-5FS Neotunes from 17 April to 7 July 1962 in support of nuclear testing * VPB-124 operating PB4Y-2 Privateers from 2 July 1945 – 22 May 1947

References

External links

Johnston Atoll Airport
at

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...

Johnston Atoll Airport
at The Airport Guide * {{authority control Airports in the United States Minor Outlying Islands Johnston Atoll Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the Pacific Ocean Theater Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II Airfields of the United States Navy Installations of the United States Air Force Seaplane bases