Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii
Longitude: -157.9600
Origin of current name: Named in honor of Lt Col Horace Meek Hickam (1885-1934). A pioneer Air Service aviator, Colonel Hickam died on 5 Nov 1934 when his A-12 struck an obstruction during night landing practice on the unlighted field at Fort Crockett, TX.
Date current name was assigned to base: 26 Mar 1948
Previous Names: Flying Field, Tracts A and B, near Ft Kamehameha, USA, unk; Hickam Field, 21 May 1935; Army Air Base, APO #953 (official designation, 16 May 1942-31 May 1946); Hickam Field, 1 Jun 1946.
Date Established: 9 Apr 1935
Date Occupied: (6th Aero Sq established at Ft Kamehameha, 13 Mar 1917-26 Sep 1918); 1 Sep 1937
Construction Began: Sep 1935
Changes in Capability: $4.5 million allocated to construct buildings, facilities, and utilities for an airfield complex mid-1935; Air Corps activities separated from Hawaiian Dept, USA, and HQ 18th Composite Wg moved from Ft Shafter to Hickam, 30 Oct 1937; construction of Hickam Fld completed 1938; all air activities, with exception of Hawaiian Air Depot, moved from Luke Fld, HI, to Hickam Fld on 13 Sep 1940; Japanese attack 7 Dec 1941 killed 121, and left a reported 37 missing and 274 wounded at Hickam Fld (of Hickams 231 aircraft, 64 destroyed, 88 damaged, and 79 remained usable); flying facilities and hangars augmented for VII Bomber Command 29 Jan 1942; new passenger terminal dedicated 24 Feb 1945; 707 acres from adjacent Ft Kamehameha, USA, transferred piecemeal to Hickam 1956-1976; Hale Makai barracks complex renovated as HQ PACAF Jul 1957; 600-unit Capehart housing project completed 12 Aug 1959; Hawaiian ANG fighter complex dedicated 17 Feb 1962; 534-unit Hickam Village completed spring 1965; radar unit dedicated on Mt Kaala 2 Jul 1965 (later moved to Wheeler AFB, HI); new aprons and fuel cell building completed Apr 1971; 5-year modernization plan included construction of new facilities and integrated residential-work areas 1971-1976; resurfacing of operational aprons completed May 1977.
Major Changes in Status: None
Official Base Website: 15wing.af.mil
In 1934, the Army Air Corps saw the need for another airfield in Hawaii and assigned the Quartermaster Corps the job of constructing a modern airdrome from tangled brush and sugar cane fields adjacent to Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. The site selected consisted of 2,200 acres of ancient coral reef, covered by a thin layer of soil, located between Oahu's Waianae and Koolau mountain ranges, with the Pearl Harbor channel and naval reservation marking its western and northern boundaries, John Rodgers Airport to the east, and Fort Kamehameha on the south. The new airfield was dedicated on May 31, 1935 and named in honor of Lt. Col. Horace Meek Hickam, a distinguished aviation pioneer who was killed in an aircraft accident on Nov. 5, 1934, at Fort Crockett in Galveston, Texas.
While construction was still in progress, the first contingent of twelve men and four aircraft under the command of 1st Lt. Robert Warren moved from Luke Field on Ford Island to Hickam on Sept. 1, 1937. Hickam Field, as it was then known, was completed and officially activated on Sept. 15, 1938. It was the principal army airfield in Hawaii and the only one large enough to accommodate the B-17 bomber. In connection with defense plans for the Pacific, aircraft were brought to Hawaii throughout 1941 to prepare for potential hostilities.
The first mass flight of bombers (21 B-17Ds) from Hamilton Field, California, arrived at Hickam on May 14, 1941. By December 1941, the Hawaiian Air Force had been an integrated command for slightly more than one year and consisted of 754 officers and 6,706 enlisted men, with 233 aircraft assigned at its three primary bases (Hickam, Wheeler, and Bellows).
When the Japanese attacked Oahu's military installations on Dec. 7, 1941, Hickam suffered extensive property damage, aircraft losses, and personnel casualties totaling 139 killed and 303 wounded. The bombing and strafing of Hickam Field was an important objective, because the success of the Japanese attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was dependent on eliminating air opposition and precluding US planes from following their aircraft back to their carriers and bombing the task force. During the war years, the base played a major role in pilot training and aircraft assembly work, in addition to seeing as a supply center for both air arid ground troops. Hickam served as the hub of the Pacific aerial network, supporting transient aircraft ferrying troops and supplies to, and evacuating wounded from, the forward areas, not only during World War II but also during the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War.
After World War II, the Air Force in Hawaii was primarily comprised of the Air Transport Command and its successor, the Military Air Transport Service, until I July 1957 when Headquarters Far East Air Forces completed its move from Japan to Hawaii and was redesignated the Pacific Air Forces. The 15th Airlift Wing, host unit at Hickam AFB, supported the Apollo astronauts in the 1960s and 1970s; Operation Homecoming (return of prisoners of war from Vietnam) in 1973; Operation Babylift/New Life (movement of nearly 94,000 orphans, refugees, and evacuees from Southeast Asia) in 1975; and NASA's space shuttle flights during the 1980s, continuing into the 1990s. Throughout those times, and continuing today, Hickam has served as "America's Bridge Across the Pacific.
In October 1980, the Secretary of the Interior designated Hickam AFB as a National Historic Landmark, recognizing it as one of the nation's most significant historic resources associated with World War II in the Pacific. A bronze plaque reflecting Hickam's "national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America" took its place among other memorials surrounding the base flagpole. Dominating the area is a large bronze tablet engraved with the names of those who died as a result of the 7 December 1941 attack.
Other reminders of the attack can be seen at Hickam today, including the tattered American flag that flew over the base that morning. It is encased and on display in the lobby of the Pacific Air Forces Headquarters building, where bullet-scarred walls have been carefully preserved as a constant reminder to never again be caught unprepared.
Hickam AFB now consists of 2,850 acres of land and facilities valued at more than $444 million. Sharing its runways with adjacent Honolulu International Airport (HIA), Hickam and the HIA constitute a single airport complex operated under a joint-use agreement.
(Current as of May 2003)
