Peleliu Airfield
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Peleliu Airfield is a small
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 ...
on
Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. ...
, one of the islands of
Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
. It also served as an airfield during
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 ...
.


History

Peleliu Airfield was built by the Japanese in 1944 with a pair of intersecting runways. During the
Battle of Peleliu The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the United States Armed Forces, US military, was fought between the United States and Empire of Japan, Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from 15 Septe ...
on 15 September 1944, 11,000 Japanese defended the island when the
1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine (military), Marine Division (military), division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine E ...
assaulted landing on the southwest corner of the island, just to the west of the airfield. On D+1, the 5th Marines moved to capture the airfield and push toward the eastern shore. They quickly raced across the airfield under heavy artillery fire from the highlands to the north, suffering heavy casualties in the process. After capturing the airfield, they rapidly advanced to the eastern end of Peleliu, leaving the island's southern defenders to be wiped out by the 7th Marines. This area was hotly contested by the Japanese, who still occupied numerous pillboxes. Temperatures remained around 115 °F (46 °C), and the Marines soon suffered high casualties from heat exhaustion. Further complicating their situation, the Marines' only available water supply was contaminated with oil. Still, by D+8 the 5th and 7th Marines accomplished their objectives, holding the airfield and the southern portion of the island. Having quickly captured the airfield,
Seabees 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 ...
from the 33rd and 73rd Naval Construction Battalions had it operational by D+3. The "Grasshoppers" ( VMO-1) soon began aerial spotting missions for Marine artillery and Naval gunfire. On 26 September 1944 (D+11), the Corsairs of the
VMF-114 Marine All-Weather Fighter Squadron 114 (VMF(AW)-114) was a squadron of the United States Marine Corps that was originally commissioned during World War II. Nicknamed the "Death Dealers", the squadron saw the most action during the war providin ...
landed on the airstrip. The Corsairs began dive-bombing missions across Peleliu, and also brought two more useful weapons to the fight against Japanese fortifications. Corsairs fired rockets, to blow open cave entrances for the infantrymen, and also delivered
napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...
attacks—only the second time the weapon had been used in the Pacific. The napalm proved useful, burning away vegetation hiding
spider hole Illustration of a spider hole In military slang, a spider hole is a type of camouflaged one-man foxhole, similar to a surveillance/hidesite used for observation. Etymology The term is usually understood to be an allusion to the camouflaged h ...
s, and killing their occupants. After liberation, the Seabees further repaired, expanded and upgraded the airfield. The airbase was under the command of Colonel
Karl S. Day Karl Schmolsmire Day (May 30, 1896 – January 19, 1973) was a naval aviator of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. A veteran of World War I, Day served with Northern Bombing Group on the Belgian fron ...
. In December 1944, the two runways measured and . A PBY that took off from Peleliu on 3 August 1945 was the first to locate survivors of the 4 days after it was sunk. The USAAF
Seventh Air Force The Seventh Air Force (Air Forces Korea) (7 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The command's mission is to plan and direct air component operations in ...
moved the F-5-equipped
28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...
to Peleliu from Kwajalein on 5 October 1944 to carry out long-range photographic missions over the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The recon squadron remained until April, 1945 when it was moved northwest to
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
. After the end of the war, Peleliu and its airfield were abandoned by the Americans. Today the vegetation on the island, which was largely burnt out by the battle, has regrown and has replaced the scars of war. As it had been heavily defended by the Japanese, there are still tanks, Amtracs, an
A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...
, canteens, helmets, etc., scattered in the jungle from the war. The airfield still exists but was only usable by light aircraft until the U.S. Marine Corps rehabilitated the runway in 2024, when a KC-130 tanker made its first landing there on June 22.


Facilities and aircraft

The airport resides at an estimated
elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
of 9 feet (3 m) above
mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
. It has one
runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
designated 4/22 with a
gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...
surface measuring 6,000 by 40 feet (1,828 x 12 m). For the 12-month period ending on 23 May 1987, the airport had 1,500
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...
aircraft operations, an average of 125 per month.


Airlines and destinations


Passenger


See also

* USAAF in the Central Pacific *
Peleliu Naval Base Peleliu Naval Base was a major United States Navy sea and airbase base on Peleliu island, one of sixteen states of Palau. The United States Marine Corps took the island in the Battle of Peleliu during World War II. Battle of Peleliu was a cost ...


References


External links


www.pacificwrecks.com
* {{authority control Airports in Palau Peleliu Palau in World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II Airports established in 1944 Seabees Closed installations of the United States Navy