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Aslito Airfield

The first operational
airbase in Micronesia

Lexi Zotomayor by Lexi Zotomayor
May 12, 2020
in Colonial Period
2 min read
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The Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport sits on two historic airfields: Isely Field (formerly named Conroy Field) and Aslito Airfield. The latter was built on top of a previously abandoned airstrip by the Japanese following the 1933 military exercise.

As early as 1932, the Japanese Imperial Navy had begun preparations for a large-scale military exercise in the Marianas-Ogasawara region involving 180 ships and a number of aircraft. This was to coincide with Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nation’s over its criticism of its military campaign in Manchuria.

To evade suspicion from the Americans on Guam down south of the Marianas archipelago, the Imperial Japanese Navy assigned the project to Nanyo Kohatsu Kaisha, the Japanese company engaged in the sugarcane industry in the islands.

NKK was ordered by Japanese naval officials to designate an expanse of land for the airstrip. NKK considered Finasisu, Naftan, Laulau, and Banadera. Eventually, they settled for Aslito where 245 acres of farmland were ceded for the construction of an airstrip. Soon, sugarcane workers buckled down to work to build the airstrip.

By July 1933, 10 Mitsubishi B2M1 carrier attack bombers were brought from Tateyama, Japan to Saipan. They were docked in Chalan Kanoa.

On July 20, 1933, the squadron launched from the Aslito airstrip and headed for Pagan. Owing to unreliable engines, some pilots had to ditch their aircraft at sea before they could reach their destination. Some were fortunate to have landed on the 600-meter strip on Pagan, including pilot Nishikawa Takio, who along with other successful pilots, were welcomed there by no less than Prince Fushimi.

The airfields had been abandoned after this exercise but was revived in 1937 when the Imperial Navy required an L-shaped airfield. The NKK ceded an additional 1,960 acres of farmland for this purpose.

Some 2,000 Okinawan workers took part in the construction of the first phase of the project. The three-year-project, referred by the Imperial Navy by its code name “amihoshiba” or place for drying nets, was cloaked in secrecy, again to avoid incurring the suspicion of the Americans.

The three-year project, completed in 1939, gave birth to Aslito Naval Airbase with a 1200m x 800m runway.

SOURCE: Exhibit at Saipan International Airport

Tags: AslitoChalan KanoaCharan KanoaConroy FieldHirohitoIsely FieldNanyo ChoNanyo Kohatsu KaishaOgasawaraPaganSaipanSaipan International Airport
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Lexi Zotomayor

Lexi Zotomayor

She lived on Saipan, in the Northern Marianas Islands for 11 years as a full-time print journalist, PR specialist, magazine manager and advertising agency's production coordinator. She was active with Stellar Marianas, a non-profit organization that has been empowering young women in the Marianas. In 2014, she was chair of the media relations committee of the 70th Anniversary of the Battles of Saipan/Tinian. For her support of environmental causes, including the campaign for the designation of a vast swath of submerged lands and water in the Marianas as a national marine monument, she was Pew/Ocean Legacy Engaged Citizen Awardee in 2008. She has a BA degree in Asian Studies and was close to completing her MA in Asian Studies when she relocated to Saipan in 2004. She was a recipient of a scholarship grant from the Jose Rizal-Sun Yat Sen Society in 1994.

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