Editing Hickam Air Force Base

{{Short description|Air Force base at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii, US}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Hickam Air Force Base
| ensign = 
| ensign_size =
| native_name = 
| partof = <!-- for elements within a larger site -->
| location = [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]]
| nearest_town = <!-- used in military test site infobox -->
| country = the [[United States of America]]
| image = Hickam DV1.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = The historic base operations building (DV1)
| image2 = 
| alt2 = 
| caption2 = 
| type = US Air Force Base
| coordinates = {{Coord|21|19|07|N|157|55|21|W|type:airport_region:US}}
| gridref = 
| image_map = 
| image_mapsize = 
| image_map_alt = 
| image_map_caption = 
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| pushpin_relief = 
| pushpin_image = 
| pushpin_label = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
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| ownership = [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]
| operator = [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]]
| controlledby = 
| open_to_public = <!-- for out of use sites/sites with museums etc -->
| site_other_label = <!-- for renaming "Other facilities" in infobox -->
| site_other = <!-- for other sorts of facilities – radar types etc -->  
| site_area = <!-- area of site m2, km2 square mile etc -->
| code = <!--facility/installation code, applies to US -->
| built = {{Start date|1938}} (as Hickam Field)
| used =  1938 – {{End date|2010}}
| builder = 
| materials = 
| height = <!-- height of tallest part, not above sea level -->
| length = <!-- for border fences or other DMZs -->
| fate = Merged in 2010 to become an element of [[Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam]]
| condition = 
| battles = 
| events = 
| current_commander = 
| past_commanders = <!-- past notable commander(s) -->
| garrison = 
| occupants = <!-- squadrons only -->
| designations = 
| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20100110200102/https://www.15wing.af.mil/|www.hickam.af.mil}}
<!-- begin airfield information  -->
| IATA = HIK
| ICAO = PHIK
| FAA = HIK
| TC = 
| LID = 
| GPS = 
| WMO = 
| elevation = {{Convert|3.9|m|0}}
| r1-number = 8L/26R
| r1-length = {{Convert|3752.6|m|0}}
| r1-surface = [[Asphalt concrete|Asphalt]]
| r2-number = 8R/26L
| r2-length = {{Convert|3657.6|m|0}}
| r2-surface = Asphalt
| r3-number = 4R/22L
| r3-length = {{Convert|2743.2|m|0}}
| r3-surface = Asphalt
| r4-number = 4L/22R
| r4-length = {{Convert|2118.9|m|0}}
| r4-surface =Asphalt
| r5-number = 8W/26W
| r5-length = {{Convert|1524|m|0}}
| r5-surface = Water
| r6-number = 4W/22W
| r6-length = {{Convert|914.4|m|0}}
| r6-surface = Water
| h1-number = 
| h1-length = <!-- {{Convert| |m|0}} -->
| h1-surface = 
| airfield_other_label = <!-- for renaming "Other facilities" in infobox -->
| airfield_other = <!-- for other sorts of airfield facilities -->
<!--  end airfield information   -->
| footnotes = Airfield shared with [[Honolulu International Airport]]<br>'''Source:''' [[Federal Aviation Administration]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1913/00754ad.pdf#nameddest=(HNL)|title=Airport Diagram – Daniel K Inouye Intl (HNL) (PHNL)|date=5 December 2019|website=Federal Aviation Administration|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>
{{Infobox designation list
  | embed = yes
  | designation1 = NRHP
  | designation1_offname = Hickam Field
  | designation2 = NHLD
  | designation2_date = 16 September 1985
  | designation2_number = [https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/85002725 85002725]
  | designation2_free1name  = Periods of significance
  | designation2_free1value = 1925–1949
  | designation2_free2name  = Areas of significance
  | designation2_free2value = Military
  }}
  }}

'''Hickam Air Force Base''' is a [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) [[United States Air Force installation|installation]], named in honor of aviation pioneer [[Lieutenant Colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Horace Meek Hickam]]. The installation merged in 2010 with [[Naval Station Pearl Harbor]] to become part of the newly formed [[Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam]], on the island of [[Oahu|Oʻahu]] in the State of [[Hawaii|Hawaiʻi]]. The base neighbors [[Daniel K. Inouye International Airport]] and currently shares runways with the airport for its activities and operations.

==Major units==
[[Image:C-17 Globemaster III.jpg|thumb|[[Boeing C-17 Globemaster III|C-17A Globemaster III]] of the [[15th Wing]] at Hickam AFB in 2008]]
Hickam is home to the [[15th Wing]] (15 WG) and 67 partner units including Headquarters of [[Pacific Air Forces]] (PACAF), [[Hawaii Air National Guard]] and the [[154th Wing]] (154 WG) of the Hawaii [[Air National Guard]]. The [[Air Mobility Command]]'s [[515th Air Mobility Operations Wing]] (515 AMOW) provides tactical and strategic airlift within the Pacific region.

In addition, Hickam supports 140 tenant and associate units.

The 15th Wing is composed of four groups each with specific functions. The [[15th Operations Group]] (15 OG) controls all flying and airfield operations. The 15th Maintenance Group (15 MXG) performs aircraft and aircraft ground equipment maintenance. The 15th Mission Support Group (15 MSG) has a wide range of responsibilities but a few of its functions are Security, Civil Engineering, Communications, Personnel Management, Logistics, Services and Contracting support. The 15th Medical Group (15 MDG) provides medical and dental care.
* 15th Operations Group (Tail Code: HH)
** 15th Operations Support Squadron
** 25th Air Support Operations Squadron
** [[535th Airlift Squadron]] ([[C-17 Globemaster III]])
** [[65th Airlift Squadron]] ([[Gulfstream G550#Variants|C-37B]])
** [[19th Fighter Squadron]] ([[F-22 Raptor]])
* 15th Maintenance Group
* 15th Medical Group
* 15th Wing Staff Agencies
The 535th Airlift, 96th Air Refueling, and 19th Fighter Squadrons are each hybrid units joined with the Hawaii Air National Guard's 204th Airlift, and
199th Fighter Squadrons, respectively. These units are structured according to the USAF Total Force Integration (TFI) concept, and as such have both an active duty Commander and
a Guard Commander. They share missions as well as equipment.
* Major Tenant Units
**[[154th Wing]] Hawaii Air National Guard
** [[515th Air Mobility Operations Wing]]

== History ==

=== Origins ===
In 1934, the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] saw the need for another airfield in Hawaii when [[Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Ford Island|Luke Field]] on Ford Island became too congested for both air operations and operation of the Hawaiian Air Depot. {{convert|2,225|acre|km2}} of land and fishponds adjacent to [[Daniel K. Inouye International Airport|John Rodgers Airport]] and [[Fort Kamehameha]] were purchased by the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] from the [[Bernice Pauahi Bishop|Bishop]], [[Samuel Mills Damon|Damon]] and [[Queen Emma of Hawaii|Queen Emma]] estates for a new air depot and air base at a cost of $1,095,543.78.<ref name="afs33">Arakaki and Kuborn (1991), p. 33 (p. 19 in text)</ref> It was the largest peacetime military construction project in the United States to that date and continued through 1941.

[[Image:Hickam-1940.jpg|thumb|Hickam Field, 1940. Pearl Harbor Navy Yard is in the upper left corner and the main barracks is immediately left of the eight hangars in the center.]]
[[File:B-17s over Hickam Field, Summer 1941.jpg|thumb|Boeing B-17D Fortresses of the [[5th Bombardment Group]] overfly the main gate at Hickam Field, Hawaii Territory during the summer of 1941. 21 B-17C/Ds had flown to Hawaii in May to reinforce the islands' defense.]]
The [[Quartermaster Corps (United States Army)|Quartermaster Corps]] was assigned the job of constructing a modern [[Aerodrome|airdrome]] from tangled [[Prosopis|algaroba]] brush and sugar cane fields adjacent to Pearl Harbor. Planning, design, and supervision of construction were all conducted by Capt. Howard B. Nurse of the QMC. The site consisted of ancient, emerged [[coral reef]] covered by a thin layer of soil, with the Pearl Harbor entrance channel and naval reservation marking its western and northern boundaries, John Rodgers Airport ([[Daniel K. Inouye International Airport|HNL]] today) to the east, and Fort Kamehameha on the south.<ref name="afs">Arakaki and Kuborn (1991), p. 32 (p. 18 in text)</ref> The new airfield was dedicated on 31 May 1935 and named in honor of Lt Col [[Horace Meek Hickam]], a distinguished aviation pioneer who was killed in an aircraft accident the previous November 5 when his [[Curtiss A-12 Shrike]], ''33-250'', hit an obstruction during night landing practice on the unlighted field at [[Fort Crockett]] in [[Galveston, Texas]] and overturned. Construction was still in progress when the first contingent of 12 men and four aircraft under the command of 1st Lt Robert Warren arrived from Luke Field on September 1, 1937.<ref name="afs33"/>

Hickam Field was completed and officially activated on September 15, 1938. By November 1939 all Air Corps troops and activities—including most facilities such as the chapel, enlisted housing, and theater, which were dismantled and ferried in sections across the channel—had transferred from Luke Field with the exception of the Hawaiian Air Depot, which required another year to move.<ref name="afs33"/> In early 1939 construction began on the main barracks, a single three-story nine-winged structure to house 3,200 men at a cost of $1,039,000. Personnel began moving into the barracks in January 1940, and by its completion on 30 September 1940, it was fully occupied and the largest structure of any kind on an American military installation. It included barber shops, a 24-hour medical dispensary, a laundry, a post exchange, multiple squadron dayrooms, and a massive consolidated mess hall at its center, and thus was dubbed the "Hickam Hotel".<ref>Arakaki and Kuborn (1991), pp. 35–36 (21–24)</ref>

Hickam was the principal army airfield in Hawaii and the only one large enough to accommodate the [[B-17 Flying Fortress]] 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 14 May 1941. By December, 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 Field]] (now [[Wheeler Army Airfield]]), and [[Bellows Field]] (now [[Bellows Air Force Station]]).

=== World War II ===
[[File:Hickam Army Airfield Hawaii 1942 Yearbook.pdf|thumb|220px|Hickam Army Airfield 1942 Yearbook]]
When the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Oahu on 7 December 1941]], its planes bombed and strafed Hickam to eliminate air opposition<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web
 |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1908&ResourceType=District 
 |title=Hickam Field 
 |access-date=2008-07-04 
 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing 
 |publisher=National Park Service 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206094909/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1908&ResourceType=District 
 |archive-date=2008-12-06 
}}</ref> and prevent American aircraft from following them back to their aircraft carriers. Hickam suffered extensive damage and aircraft losses, with 189 people killed and 303 wounded. Notable casualties included nine [[Honolulu Fire Department]] (HFD) firefighters (three killed, six injured) who fought fires at Hickam during the attack; they later received [[Purple Heart]]s for their heroic actions that day in peacetime history, the only civilian firefighters awarded as such to date.

During [[World War II]], the base became a major center for training pilots and assembling aircraft. It also served as the hub of the Pacific aerial network, supporting transient aircraft ferrying troops and supplies to—and evacuating wounded from—the forward areas—a role it would reprise during the [[Korean War|Korean]] and [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] wars and earning it the official nickname "America's Bridge Across the Pacific".

=== Cold War ===
[[File:1502d-air-transport-wing-MATS.png|thumb|150px|left|Emblem of the MATS 1502d Air Transport Wing (1955–1966)]]
After World War II, the Air Force in Hawaii consisted primarily of the [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|Air Transport Command]] and its successor, the [[Military Air Transport Service]] (MATS), until 1 July 1957 when Headquarters [[Pacific Air Forces#Far East Air Forces|Far East Air Forces]] completed its move from [[Japan]] to Hawai‘i and was redesignated the [[Pacific Air Forces]] (PACAF). The 15th Air Base Wing, host unit at Hickam AFB, supported the [[Project Apollo|Apollo]] astronauts in the 1960s and 1970s; [[Operation Homecoming]] (return of prisoners of war from Vietnam) in 1973; [[Operation Babylift]] / [[Operation New Life|New Life]] (movement of nearly 94,000 orphans, refugees, and evacuees from Southeast Asia) in 1975; and [[NASA]]'s [[Space Shuttle]] flights in the 1980s and 1990s. Hickam is home to the 65th Airlift Squadron which transports theater senior military leaders throughout the world in the [[C-37B]] and [[C-40 Clipper]] aircraft. In mid-2003, the 15th Air Base Wing (15 ABW) was converted to the 15th Airlift Wing (15 AW) as it prepared to bed down and fly the USAF's newest transport aircraft, the [[C-17 Globemaster III]]. The first Hickam-based C-17 arrived in February 2006, with seven more to follow during the year. The C-17s will be flown by the [[535th Airlift Squadron]].
[[File:199th Fighter Interceptor Squadron F-102s Hickam AFB 1976.jpg|thumb|Hawaii ANG 199th Fighter Interceptor Squadron F-102s in maintenance hangar at Hickam, 1976 Convair F-102A-30-CO Delta Dagger 54-1373 identifiable, aircraft now on static display at Hickam.]]
[[File:Aerial Photo of Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, with Hickam Air Force Base visible in the upper left corner]]
On September 16, 1985, the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] designated Hickam AFB a [[National Historic Landmark]], recognizing its key role in the World War II Pacific campaign.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/designations/Lists/HI01.pdf HI NHL List]</ref> 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 1941 attack. Other reminders of the attack can still be seen. Bullet holes mark many buildings in use, including World War II era hangars and the base hospital.,<ref>[https://www.nr.nps.gov/writeups/85002725.nl.pdf NHL Summary]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> including the tattered American flag that flew over the base that morning. It is on display in the lobby of the Pacific Air Forces Headquarters building, whose bullet-scarred walls (the structure was a [[barracks]] and [[mess hall]] known as "the Big Barracks" in 1941) have been carefully preserved as a reminder to never again be caught unprepared.

===Accidents and incidents===
On 22 March 1955, a [[United States Navy]] [[Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster]] on descent to a landing in darkness and heavy rain strayed off course and [[1955 Hawaii R6D-1 crash|crashed]] into Pali Kea Peak in the southern part of [[Oahu]]{{'}}s [[Waianae Range]], killing all 66 people on board. It remains the worst air disaster in Hawaii{{'}}s history and the deadliest [[heavier-than-air]] accident in the history of U.S. [[naval aviation]].<ref>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19550322-0 Aviation Safety Network Aircraft Accident Douglas R6D-1 (DC-6) 131612 Honolulu, HI]</ref><ref>Associated Press, "66 Killed as Navy Plane Hits Hawaiian Peak," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', story dated 22 March 1955, quoted in full at [http://royandsharon.lifegrid.com/COMBS,%20Charles%20J%20Jr.htm lifegrid.com Charles J. Coombs, Jr.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |title=Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941–1999 |access-date=2013-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331224444/http://vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |archive-date=2016-03-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/PRELIM.PDF Grossnick, Roy A., ''United States Naval Aviation 1910–1995'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, undated] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912124655/http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/Prelim.pdf |date=2012-09-12 }} {{ISBN|0-945274-34-3}}, p. 206.</ref>

===Previous names===
* Flying Field, Tracts A and B, near Ft Kamehameha, United States Army (Origins)
* Hickam Field, 21 May 1935
* Army Air Base, APO #953 (official designation, 16 May 1942 – 31 May 1946)
* Hickam Field, 1 Jun 1946
* Hickam Air Force Base, 26 March 1948 – 1 October 2010

===Major commands to which assigned===
* 1935–1940: Hawaiian Dept, United States Army
* 1940–1942: Hawaiian Air Force
* 1942–1944: [[Seventh Air Force]]
* 1944–1945: Army Air Forces Pacific Ocean Areas (Provisional)
* 1945: [[Seventh Air Force]]
* 1945–1946: Air Transport Command
* 1946–1949: Pacific Air Command
* 1949–1955: [[Military Air Transport Service]]
* 1955–1957: [[Far East Air Forces]]
* 1957–present: [[Pacific Air Forces]]

==Geography==
Hickam Air Force Base consists of {{convert|2,850|acre|km2}}, valued at more than $444 million. It was originally bounded on the north by [[Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard]], on the west by the Pearl Harbor entrance channel, on the south by [[Fort Kamehameha]], and on the east by the airport complex. The original main gate is reached via Nimitz Highway ([[Hawaii Route 92]]) from [[Honolulu]], and it shares its western terminus with the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's main gate. This part of Nimitz Highway can be reached from the expressway [[Interstate H-1]] (Exit 15) southeast from [[Halawa]] or west from Honolulu (Exit 15B) and from [[Kamehameha Highway]] (State Hawaii Route 99), the eastern termination of which is at Nimitz Highway.

The housing around the base is within the [[Hickam Housing, Hawaii|Hickam Housing]] [[Census-designated place|CDP]].<ref>"[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=16000US1514200&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=saff&_lang=en&_sse=on Hickam Housing CDP, Hawaii]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on May 21, 2009.</ref>

Hickam AFB is the location of Region 6 of the [[Air Force Office of Special Investigations]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Units |url=https://www.osi.af.mil/Units |website=Office of Special Investigations}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay]]
* [[List of airports in Hawaii]]
* [[Hawaii World War II Army Airfields]]
* [[Arnold W. Braswell]]
* [[HABS/HAER documentation of Hickam Air Force Base]] for a listing of the documentation of Hickam Air Force Base Base by the [[Historic American Buildings Survey]]
{{Portal bar|United States|Hawaii}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}
* Arakaki, Leatrice R. and Kuborn, John R. (1991). [http://newpreview.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100917-040.pdf ''7 December 1941: The Air Force Story'']{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Pacific Air Forces Office of History, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. {{ISBN|0-912799-73-0}}
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units Of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-89201-092-4}}.
* Mueller, Robert (1989). ''Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982''. USAF Reference Series. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-912799-53-6}}
* Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). ''Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. {{ISBN|0-912799-12-9}}.
* Rogers, Brian (2005). ''United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978''. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. {{ISBN|1-85780-197-0}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hickam Air Force Base}}
* [https://www.15wing.af.mil/ Hickam Air Force Base]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100517065737/http://www2.hickam.af.mil/library/historyofhickam/index.asp History at Hickam]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090506014549/http://hickam.hi.airforceusa.org/ Hickam AFB Installation Overview]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/aviation/ Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary]

{{US Air Force navbox}}
{{Pacific Air Forces}}
{{USAAF 7th Air Force World War II}}
{{Airports in Hawaii}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}

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[[Category:Installations of the United States Air Force in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Airports in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Art Deco airports]]
[[Category:Art Deco architecture in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Honolulu County, Hawaii]]
[[Category:Installations of the United States Air National Guard]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Transportation in Honolulu County, Hawaii]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Hawaii]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu County, Hawaii]]
[[Category:Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1935]]
[[Category:1935 establishments in Hawaii]]