Marine Corps Air Station Ewa (MCAS Ewa) was a
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
air station that was located west of
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
on the island of
Oahu, Hawaii
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...
. The base was hit during the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, and later served as the hub for all Marine aviation units heading into combat in the
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The base was closed in 1952 because its runways were too short for jet aircraft, and expansion was impossible due to the proximity of
Naval Air Station Barbers Point
Naval Air Station Barbers Point , on O'ahu, also called John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport), is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaeloa Airport. Parts of the former air station ...
. Ewa has been abandoned since 1952; however, two of its runways are still visible from the air and many of the
revetment
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water
...
s still remain in good condition.
History
It was founded as an
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
base for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
in 1925, but no airships ever landed there.
The
USS Shenandoah
Four United States Navy ships, including one rigid airship, and one ship of the Confederate States of America, have been named ''Shenandoah'', after the Shenandoah River of western Virginia and West Virginia.
* , a screw sloop commissioned in 186 ...
crashed in Ohio in 1925, the
USS Akron
USS ''Akron'' (ZRS-4) was a helium-filled rigid airship of the U.S. Navy, the lead ship of her class, which operated between September 1931 and April 1933. It was the world's first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier, carrying F9C Sparrow ...
was destroyed in 1933 and the
USS Macon in 1935, leading to the cancellation of the airship program. The base's upgrade to an air station began in September 1940, and on February 3, 1941, it was commissioned Marine Corps Air Station Ewa.
By the onset of World War II, the air station had four runways and numerous hangars. On December 7, 1941, MCAS Ewa was the first installation hit during the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
. All forty-eight aircraft based there were destroyed, although the runway was not bombed and remained serviceable.
[Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...]
was relocated to MCAS Ewa where they stayed for the remainder of the war.
saw another surge in activity at MCAS Ewa, but because the runways were becoming more and more unsuitable for jet aircraft, the Marine Corps shifted its aviation assets to
. Ewa was officially closed on June 18, 1952, and its property assumed by Naval Air Station Barbers Point.
In 2008, the US Navy announced they would be leasing of the old air station to Ford Island Properties, who plan on building expensive homes and shopping centers to create an urban center for
. The Navy has said that 4 to of the base near the center of the old runways qualifies for the
. While some local looking to preserve the field are trying to rally support to make it a National Cemetery. The Navy and Ford Island Properties were expected to conclude their lease agreement in August 2008.
In 2013 the Honolulu City Council moved forwards on a plan to have a road built over the airfield.