Alexai Point Army Airfield is an abandoned
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
airfield
An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...
with two runways laid across Alexai Point on
Attu Island
Attu (, ) is an island in the Near Islands (part of the Aleutian Islands chain). It is one of the westernmost points of the U.S. state of Alaska. The island became uninhabited in 2010, making it the largest uninhabited island that is part of th ...
, Alaska. The remains of the
Seabee
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...
built airbase are located about 4 miles east of the closed
Casco Cove Coast Guard Station, directly across Massacre Bay.
History
On the morning of 11 May 1943, American forces went ashore on Japanese-occupied
Attu in the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...
. The Japanese, who knew the Americans were coming, had pulled back from their shoreline positions and moved to defensive positions on higher ground above the fog.
[Chloe, John Hale, (1984), Top Cover for America. the Air Force in Alaska. 1920–1983, Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, ]
On 30 May 1943, before the battle for Attu was completely over, the building of Alexai Point Airfield was initiated using
Marsden Matting to pave the runways.
[Conn, Stetson, Rose C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild. Guarding the United States and Its Outposts. New York: University Press Of The Pacific, 2002. Print.] Navy Seabees also began construction of an airfield at
Casco Cove for Naval Air units. Also, on 28 May, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the east of Attu. The following day, Army Engineers came ashore on
Shemya
Shemya or Simiya () is a small island in the Semichi Islands group of the Near Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of , and is about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It is wide and long ...
to begin construction of another, much longer runway suitable for bombers.
The first landing at Alexai Point Airfield was made by an
Eleventh Air Force
The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.This unit is not related to the Eleventh Air Force headquart ...
C-47 arriving on 8 June 1943 to deliver fighter crews to Alexai Point, and to evacuate wounded soldiers. Shortly afterwards, P-40 Warhawks from the 344th Fighter Squadron arrived to provide air cover over the island.
USAAF units assigned to Alexai Point Army Airfield were:
*
18th Fighter Squadron, March 28, 1944 – November 6, 1945 (P-38 Lightning)
*
54th Fighter Squadron, November 20, 1943- March 8, 1946 (P-38 Lightning)
*
344th Fighter Squadron, June 12 - December 1943 (P-40 Warhawk)
*
77th Bombardment Squadron, July–September 1943; Feb 11, 1944-October 19, 1945 (B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Marauder)
Initially used for carrying out bombardment operations over
Kiska
Kiska (, ) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required to visit it. The island has ...
Island during June and July 1943, Alexai Point and the new
Shemya Army Airfield became forward bases for operations against the Kurile Islands of northern Japan, after the end of the
Aleutian Islands Campaign
The Aleutian Islands campaign () was a military campaign fought between 3 June 1942 and 15 August 1943 on and around the Aleutian Islands in the American theater (World War II), American Theater of World War II during the Pacific War. It was t ...
in late August. Alexai Point became home of very long-range (VLR) P-38 Lightning squadrons, providing fighter escort for
B-24 Liberators bombers based at Shemya.
By mid-July fighters from Alexai Point Airfield had made their first strike against Japan, a raid against the northern
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...
.
[
With the end of the war in 1945, combat units were gradually withdrawn; the 11th Weather Squadron and the 713th Air Warning Radar Squadron remained until June 1946 when the base was closed. The facility was abandoned, with most structures dismantled, the usable buildings being reassembled at Naval Air Station Attu.]
Accidents and incidents
On January 1, 1945, 2nd Lt. Robert L. Nesmith flying from Alexai Point, crashed his Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning in Temnac Valley, just west of Attu Station while on a low-level training mission over Attu. The aircraft was nominated to be added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
but instead was recovered in 1999 and static-restored for display at Elmendorf AFB.["Pacific Wrecks - P-38G-10-LO Lightning Serial Number 42-13400 Nose 95." PACIFIC WRECKS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2010. .]
See also
* Alaska World War II Army Airfields
References
*
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
External links
Image
of a sign "Welcome to Alexai Point, Unincorporated, The Home of the Army's Northwestern-Most Airfield."
Image
of a sign "Good Bye You Are Now Leaving Alexai Point Hurry Back."
Photos
taken during 1944 at Alexai Point.
{{USAAF 11th Air Force World War II
Aleutian Islands campaign
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Alaska
Airports in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska
Military installations closed in 1946
1943 establishments in Alaska
1946 disestablishments in Alaska
Attu Island