North Field (Iwo Jima)

North Field (Iwo Jima) Motoyama No. 2 Airfield No. 2
Part of Twentieth Air Force
P-51Ds of the 21st Fighter Group at North Field Iwo Jima 1845, Note Mount Suribachi in the background.
Type	Military airfield
Coordinates	24°47′05″N 141°19′27″E
Built	Prior to 1944
In use	1944–present
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces (1945–1953) Japan Self-Defense Forces (1953–present) (IATA: IWO, ICAO: RJAW)

Iwo Jima Air Base Iwoto Field Iwoto Airport 硫黄島飛行場 Iōtō Hikōjō
IATA: IWO – ICAO: RJAW
Summary
Airport type		Military
Owner		Ministry of Defense, Japan
Operator		JMSDF
Location		Iwo Jima, Ogasawara, Tokyo
Elevation AMSL		384 ft / 117 m
Coordinates		24°47′03″N 141°19′21″E
Map
Location in Japan
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
07/25	2,650	8,694	Asphalt
Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan

North Field or Iwo Jima Air Base (IATA: IWO, ICAO: RJAW) is a World War II airfield on Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands, located in the Central Pacific. The Bonin Islands are part of Japan.

Today, the base is the only airfield on the island, operated by the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

History

See also: Battle of Iwo Jima

Located south and west of the midpoint between Tokyo and Saipan, the island of Iwo Jima was needed by the United States Army Air Force Twentieth Air Force as an emergency landing facility for its B-29 Superfortress strategic bombing campaign against the Empire of Japan.

United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima February 19, 1945. The first day saw 2,400 American casualties. During the battle U.S. Marines, sailors and soldiers killed an estimated 20,000 Japanese and captured over 1,000 prisoners. On March 25 the Battle of Iwo Jima was declared over and the island secured, although mopping up continued until July. United States Army units, including the 147th Infantry also participated in the battle.

North Field was one of three Japanese airfields built on Iwo Jima. North Field (Japanese Motoyama No. 2) was repaired and lengthened by American forces to accommodate B-29s making emergency landings. Central Field (Japanese Motoyama No. 1) was also used by the Americans for that purpose, and both airfields handled over 2,400 emergency landings by American aircraft. A third Japanese airfield (Motoyama No. 3) 24°47′37″N 141°19′29″E was not used by the Americans after its siezure, instead it was used for revetments and munitions storage in support of the other two airfields.

Noroth Field was also the headquarters for VII Fighter Command (assigned to Twentieth Air Force) from March 1 – December 1, 1945, along with the intelligence-gathering 41st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron from August though mid-September 1945. Operational fighter squadrons which performed B-29 escort missions from North Field were:

• 506th Fighter Group, April 24 – December 3, 1945
• 414th Fighter Group, July 7 – December 23, 1945
• 21st Fighter Group, July 16 – December 4, 1945
• 548th Night Fighter Squadron, March 5 – June 12, 1945
• 549th Night Fighter Squadron, (Ground Echelon), March 14, 1945 – February 5, 1946

Central and North Fields Iwo Jima 1945

After the war, the 20th Air Force fighter squadrons moved out to Japan, Okinawa or the Philippines and North Field came under the Jurisdiction of Military Air Transport Service (MATS), becoming a refueling stop for MATS aircraft in the Western Pacific. It hosted various communications, weather as well as Far East Materiel Command units for supply and maintenance activities. It was under the command of the Iwo Jima Base Command, as a satellite of the 6000th Support Wing, Tachikawa Air Base, Japan. It was likely classified as a remote assignment for military personnel, as other than rudimentary medical and personnel living facilities, no family housing or other quality of life facilities were built to accommodate families for accompanied tours.

North Field stayed in American hands until being turned over to the Japanese Government on 27 June 1968. It then became a navigation and weather station of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Nihon Kaijo Jieitai), and is still used by the U.S. military as an aircraft refueling depot and as a U.S. Navy special pilot training facility.

At any given time about 350 JSDF personnel are posted to Iwo Jima and though the airfield is strictly for military use, commercial flights carrying Veterans are frequent visitors.

See also

• USAAF in the Central Pacific
• Central Field (Iwo Jima)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Referencing may look daunting, but it's easy enough to do. Here's a guide to getting started. References are important to validate your writing and inform the reader. Any editor can remove unreferenced material, and unsubstantiated articles may end up getting deleted, so when you add something to an article, it's advisable to also include a reference to say from where it came. If you need any assistance, let me know.

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