Motobu Airfield

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.

History

Location of Motobu Airfield

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.

Units assigned

• Headquarters, Fifth Air Force*, August 4 – September 25, 1945
• Headquarters, V Bomber Command*, August–October 1945
• Headquarters, V Fighter Command*, August–October 1945
• Headquarters, 308th Bombardment Wing*, June 16 – September 22, 1945

.* Assigned to nearby town of Hamasaki and used Motobu Airfield for air operations.

In addition to the Army units, several Navy aviation squadrons used the airfield. It's postwar use is undetermined. Today, parts of the runway can still be seen on aerial photography.

See also

• USAAF in Okinawa

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.

External links

USAAF Fifth Air Force in World War II
Previously: Philippine Department Air Force (1941); Far East Air Force (1941-1942)
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