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

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.

Headquarters, 3d Bombardment Group, A-20 Havoc, August 6 – September 8, 1945
Headquarters, 380th Bombardment Group, B-24 Liberator, August 9 – November 28, 1945
Headquarters, 22d Bombardment Group, B-24 Liberator, August 15 – November 23, 1945
Headquarters, 417th Bombardment Group, A-20 Havoc, August 17 – November 1, 1945

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