Northwest Field (site)
Guam /
Dededo /
Finegayan Station /
World
/ Guam
/ Dededo
/ Finegayan Station
World / Guam
Second World War 1939-1945, military, former air force base
Constructed between late 1944 through mid-1945 by US Navy Seabees and the US Army Air Corps 1865th Aviation Engineering Battalion, Northwest Field was one of two major airbases built on Guam's North Coast to serve as bases for the B-29 Superfortress and Escort Fighter Wings.
Activated for duty in April 1945 with the arrival of the 315th Bombardment Wing and its subordinate 16th, 331st, 501st and 502nd Bombardment Groups, Northwest Field was eventually completed with two parallel runways flanked on each side by aircraft hardstands and support facilities. Billited for over 12,000 men at its peak capacity in June of 1945, the airbase began regular long-range strike missions against mainland Japan on June 26th, 1945 that lasted through the cessation of hostilities, primarily targeting oil refineries. Conducting what is considered to be the final combat mission flown by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II on August 14th, 1945, Northwest Field and its B-29's conducted peacetime relief supply drops to POW Camps through April 1946 before serving as a storage site for deactivated aircraft as the US Army Air Force drewdown its forward-deployed units.
Becoming home to the 20th Fighter Wing, 23d Fighter Group from October 1946 through April 1949, Northwest Field was eventually declared surplus, shut down and its assigned wings relocated of the adjacent North Field/Andersen Air Force Base. Remaining largely unused since its deactivation, the airfield has seen recent activity associated with the expansion of Andersen Air Force Base to include US Marine Corps units presently based in Okinawa.
www.315bw.org/nwfield.html
www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/andersen.htm
Activated for duty in April 1945 with the arrival of the 315th Bombardment Wing and its subordinate 16th, 331st, 501st and 502nd Bombardment Groups, Northwest Field was eventually completed with two parallel runways flanked on each side by aircraft hardstands and support facilities. Billited for over 12,000 men at its peak capacity in June of 1945, the airbase began regular long-range strike missions against mainland Japan on June 26th, 1945 that lasted through the cessation of hostilities, primarily targeting oil refineries. Conducting what is considered to be the final combat mission flown by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II on August 14th, 1945, Northwest Field and its B-29's conducted peacetime relief supply drops to POW Camps through April 1946 before serving as a storage site for deactivated aircraft as the US Army Air Force drewdown its forward-deployed units.
Becoming home to the 20th Fighter Wing, 23d Fighter Group from October 1946 through April 1949, Northwest Field was eventually declared surplus, shut down and its assigned wings relocated of the adjacent North Field/Andersen Air Force Base. Remaining largely unused since its deactivation, the airfield has seen recent activity associated with the expansion of Andersen Air Force Base to include US Marine Corps units presently based in Okinawa.
www.315bw.org/nwfield.html
www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/andersen.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Field_(Guam)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 13°37'22"N 144°51'33"E
- Northwest Field Munitions Storage Area 1.3 km
- Naval Computer and Telecommunication Station Guam 3.5 km
- Andersen Air Force Base (IATA: UAM, ICAO: PGUA) 5.2 km
- US Naval Communication Station, Barrigada 16 km
- Guam - Joint Region Marianas - Ordnance Annex 32 km
- Naval Base Guam 33 km
- Former USAAF North Field Airbase 184 km
- Kobler Field 190 km
- Wreck of USS Oklahoma City (CL-91/CLG-5/CG-5) 456 km
- Crash site of the submarine USS San Francisco, SSN 711 693 km
- Abandoned runway (WW2 era) 0.4 km
- Starts Guam Golf Resort 5.3 km
- Astumbo 1 7.7 km
- Fuel Depot 8.4 km
- Palm Tree Golf Course 10 km
- Takano Subdivision 11 km
- Kaiser 11 km
- Marbo Annex 13 km
- Latte Heights 15 km
- Guam 21 km
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