Kiska Army Airfield is an abandoned
military airfield
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...
, first Japanese and then US, on
Kiska
Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is require ...
island,
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
, USA.
History
The airfield on Kiska island, and a seaplane base, were built by the occupying Japanese forces during the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
in 1942 after the
Battle of Dutch Harbor
The Battle of Dutch Harbor took place on June 3–4, 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Fort Mears at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island, during the A ...
. Thousands of US and 6000 Canadian troops landed on 15 August. The Japanese garrison of 5,183 troops and civilians were evacuated from the island on July 23 under the cover of fog.
After the island was secured, the airfield was used by some transient USAAF aircraft until the end of the war, but no permanent aircraft were assigned. The 119th Army Airways Communications Squadron established a communications site at the airfield on 25 August 1943. The unit operated until 25 October 1945 when it was closed and the base was abandoned.
AFHRA Document 00190991
/ref>
There are many dumps of US and Japanese material. Right-hand drive Japanese truck frames are piled up, along with Zero aircraft engines and other residue of Japanese occupation. There are extensive support structures, such as a water hydrant. Standing and collapsed US structures remain. US dump sites contain many 3-inch shells and other debris, and aircraft wreckage, which may include a B-17.
See also
* Alaska World War II Army Airfields
References
External links
{{USAAF 11th Air Force World War II
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Alaska
Airports in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska
Imperial Japanese Navy