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Pacific · from 1945

Kadena Air Base

U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan.

History

Kadena Air Base (嘉手納飛行場, Kadena Hikōjō) (IATA: DNA, ICAO: RODN) is a United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the "Keystone of the Pacific" because of its highly strategic location. It is located 650 km (400 mi) off the coast of China and at a distance of 770 km (480 mi) from Shanghai, a major Chinese economic hub. It is home to the USAF's 18th Wing, the 353rd Special Operations Wing, reconnaissance units, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, and a variety of associated units. Over 20,000 American servicemembers, family members, and Japanese employees live or work at Kadena Air Base. It is the largest and most active U.S. Air Force base in East Asia.

Text from Wikipedia: Kadena Air Base, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Key dates

  1. 1945
    Kadena airfield was initially under the control of Seventh Air Force, however on 16 July 1945, Headquarters Eighth Air Force was transferred, without personnel, equipment, or combat elements to the town of Sakugawa, near Kadena from RAF High Wycombe England.
  2. 1949
    Twentieth Air Force became the command and control organization for Kadena on 16 May 1949.
  3. 1961
    Beginning in 1961, the 18th TFW was sending its tactical squadrons frequently to South Vietnam and Thailand, initially with its RF-101 reconnaissance jets, and beginning in 1964 with its tactical fighter forces supporting USAF combat missions in the Vietnam War.
  4. 1971
    The F/RF-4C Phantom II replaced the F-105s in 1971, and a further upgrade to the F-15 Eagle was made in 1979.
  5. 1972
    20 July 1972: SR-71 61-7978 ran off the runway on its second landing approach due to high crosswinds ahead of Typhoon Rita, severely damaging the underside of the plane.
  6. 1987
    Soil on the base tested positive for very high levels of polychlorinated biphenylchemicals (PCBs), in the thousands of parts per million, much higher than most other contamination sites in the world, according to a report issued in 1987 after an investigation prompted by a small unrelated spill of transformer oil.
  7. 1991
    The newly considated 18th Wing replaced the 313th Air Division in 1991.
  8. 1991
    Until 1991, the wing controlled the 909th Air Refueling Squadron (KC-135A/Q/R) and supported rotational reconnaissance aircraft (TR-1, SR-71) after the inactivation of the 9th SRW in 1974.
  9. 2018
    11 June 2018: F-15C from the 44th Fighter Squadron crashed into the sea off Okinawa.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone at this base

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