Harmon Air Force Base is a former

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 ...

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

airfield, and postwar

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Base on

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 ...

in the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. Originally named "Depot Field", it was renamed in honor of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Millard F. Harmon. Harmon Air Force Base was closed in 1949 due to budget constraints and was merged with the neighboring

Naval Air Station Agana Naval Air Station Agana is a former United States Naval air station located on the island of Guam. It was opened by the Japanese Navy in 1943 and closed by the United States government in 1995. During and after its closure, it was operated alongs ...

History

Harmon Field was built by CB 25 as the headquarters for the

XXI Bomber Command The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II. The command was established at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas on 1 March 1944. After a period of organization an ...

and later

Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Interco ...

which directed the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

strategic bombing campaign against the

Japanese Home Islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chi ...

. It was also the major B-29 aircraft depot and maintenance facility in the Western Pacific during the war, and that mission continued for

Far East Air Forces Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...

until its closure. Harmon was used operationally by the United States Air Force

11th Bombardment Group An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country calling code (and, fur ...

as an operational B-29 Base. After the war the

9th Bombardment Group 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

used the base for strategic reconnaissance missions and the 374th Troop Carrier Group of the Technical Service Command used the base for transport of supplies and equipment from its depot facilities. Harmon Air Force Base was closed in 1949 due to budget constraints and was merged with the neighboring

. Today, the technical facilities are an industrial area to the northeast of the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, which served as the main airfield for both Harmon Air Force Base and Naval Air Station Agana.

Major units assigned

*1537th Army Air Forces Base Unit, 30 September 1944 – 1 August 1945 *75th Air Service Group, 1 May 1947 – 20 September 1948 *367th Air Service Group, 1 May 1947 – 1 November 1949 *Guam Air Depot (later Guam Air Materiel Area, Marianas Air Materiel Area) : 56th Air Depot Group, Air Technical Service Command, 9 November 1944 – 31 August 1945 : 24th Air Depot Group, Air Technical Service Command, 8 November 1944 – 1 July 1949 : 55th Air Depot Group, Air Technical Service Command, 1 January 1945 – 21 December 1945 : 25th Air Depot Group, Air Technical Service Command, 21 January 1945 – 1 November 1949 *

, 4 December 1944 – 16 July 1945 *

, 16 July 1945 – 16 May 1949 *Western Pacific Wing, Air Transport Command, 10 April 1946 – 1 March 1947 *

(Very Heavy), 15 May 1946 – 20 October 1948 *

(Very Heavy), 9 June 1947 – 20 October 1948 * 374th Troop Carrier Group, 1 April 1947 – 5 March 1949 * 3d Reconnaissance Squadron (Very Long Range, Photographic), 11 January 1945 – 15 March 1947

References

*Maurer, Maurer (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. "Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama": Office of Air Force History. .

External links

www.pacificwrecks.com
{{USAAF 20th Air Force World War II 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 Military installations closed in 1949 1944 establishments in Guam

History

Major units assigned

See also

References

External links