Canton Island Airport is an airport located on Canton Island, a sparsely populated island in the Phoenix Islands of the Republic of Kiribati. It has a single asphalt runway measuring in length. Once a major stop on commercial trans-Pacific airline routes, today the airport is available for emergency use only.

Construction

A low, narrow rim of land surrounding a large, shallow lagoon, at its widest to the west, the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

is 4½ miles, narrowing to the east over a distance of just . The airfield was built on the island's northwestern point between 1938 and 1939 by Pan American Airways as a stopover on their route from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. By 14 July 1940 the base was ready for the beginning of scheduled service by Pan American clippers en route to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

World War II

Pacific & Adjacent areas 1942 CMH Pub 72-22

The Pan American central air route from Hawaii to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and Asia, stopping at

Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, passed through the Japanese controlled islands which caused serious concerns about its safety in 1941 even though the US Army had reinforced the Philippines with a flight of B-17 bombers by way of Midway, Wake and

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

in September. The

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

approved a plan with orders effective 4 October 1941 to build an alternate air ferry route skirting the mandated islands and capable of handling planes such as the B-17s. While a commercial firm was engaged for most of the island stops of the new route, the Canton airfield was under construction by a team of Army Engineers and civilian contractors with a target opening of bomber capability by January 1942. The effort began on 3 November with a transport carrying 130 troops and civilian contractors and towing four barges of equipment departed Honolulu arriving at the island 14 November after losing two of the barges. By 28 December, despite considerable difficulties, the field was declared suitable to accommodate heavy bombers. On 31 January 1942 garrison forces for the island, then codenamed "HOLLY," sailed from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The airport was initially used by the

40th Ferrying Squadron #REDIRECT Motorola 68040 The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping ...

as an airfield for moving combat aircraft to forward combat units. The airfield saw various aircraft, including

A-20 A20, A 20, A.20 or A-20 may refer to: Vehicles * A-20 Havoc, a U.S.-designed attack aircraft used in World War II * A20 heavy tank, a British tank which did not enter production but of which a downsized version became the A22 Churchill tank * A-20 ...

s, B-17s,

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

s, B-26s,

P-38 The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

s, P-40s,

C-46 The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

s and

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

s transit the base. In February 1943, the long-range B-24 bombers of the

392d Bombardment Squadron 39 may refer to: * 39 (number), the natural number following 38 and preceding 40 * one of the years: ** 39 BC ** AD 39 ** 1939 ** 2039 * ''39'' (album), a 2000 studio album by Mikuni Shimokawa * "'39", a 1975 song by Queen * "Thirty Nine", a so ...

were sent to the airfield. The

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

did not invade Canton, although the airfield was shelled on 1 November 1943 by . After the war, it was returned to civilian control.

Post-war history

Canton Island airport continued to see use during the 1950s as a trans-Pacific stopover for

DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

and

DC-7C The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

aircraft for

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines or BCPA, was an airline registered in New South Wales, Australia in June 1946 with headquarters in Sydney. It was formed by the governments of Australia (50%), New Zealand (30%) and the United Kingdom (20% ...

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

and Canadian Pacific Airlines, but with the advent of long-range jet aircraft during the 1960s, their need for the island faded, and the final commercial service landed in November 1965. The airport's facilities were gradually wound down and it was officially closed in January 1968. From 1969 it saw occasional use in conjunction with subsequent U.S. government projects on the island (largely related to the

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

program, in particular Project Mercury and

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

), but with the conclusion of these endeavours, the airport was finally closed in 1976, although

Air Tungaru Air Tungaru was the first airline of Kiribati. As the predecessor of current Air Kiribati, it was Kiribati's national flag carrier. Air Tungaru's main base was Bonriki International Airport, the international airport at Kiribati's capital, South ...

used it as an occasional refuelling stop on its

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Kiritimati Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonology, ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

route well into the 1990s. It remains available as an emergency landing field.

References

* * * *
Canton Island Airfield at Pacific Wrecks

External links

{{authority control Airports in Kiribati Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the Pacific Ocean Theater

Construction

World War II

Post-war history

See also

References

External links