Kamakaiwi Field (site)

 airport, abandoned / shut down

The field was cleared during the mid-1930s, in anticipation that the island might eventually be used as a stopover for a commercial trans-Pacific air route and also to further U.S. territorial claims in the region against rival claims from Great Britain.

Howland Island became a scheduled refueling stop for American pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan on their round-the-world flight in 1937. Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds were used by the Bureau of Air Commerce to construct three graded, unpaved runways meant to accommodate Earhart's modern twin-engined Lockheed Model 10 Electra.

The facility was named Kamakaiwi Field after James Kamakaiwi, a young Hawaiian who had arrived with the first group of four colonists, was subsequently picked as leader and spent a total of over three years on Howland, far longer than the average recruit.