| Naval Air Station Barbers Point | |||||||||||
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John Rodgers Field | |||||||||||
| Kapolei, Hawaii in the United States | |||||||||||
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| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Naval air station | ||||||||||
| Owner | Department of Defense | ||||||||||
| Operator | US Navy | ||||||||||
| Condition | Closed | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
  Barbers Point Location on Oʻahu | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 21°18′26″N158°04′13″W / 21.30722°N 158.07028°W /21.30722; -158.07028 | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1942 (1942)[citation needed] | ||||||||||
| In use | 1942 – 1997 (1997)[citation needed] | ||||||||||
| Fate | Transferred to civilian use and becameKalaeloa Airport and film & TV studios | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Identifiers | ICAO: PHJR,FAA LID: JRF,WMO: 91178 | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 9 metres (30 ft)AMSL | ||||||||||
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Naval Air Station Barbers Point (ICAO:PHJR,FAALID:JRF), onO'ahu, home toJohn Rodgers Field (the original name ofHonolulu International Airport), is a formerUnited States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamedKalaeloa Airport. Parts of the former air station serve as afilm andtelevision studio for the Hawaii State Film Office.
On December 7, 1941, Barbers Point was one of the many targets attacked by the Japanese during theattack on Pearl Harbor.[1] During the second wave, American pilotsGeorge Welch andKenneth Taylor engaged Japanese aircraft over Barbers Point, shooting down two aircraft.[2]
The Navy acquired the airfield in early 1943. At that time it consisted of two short runways and fourhangars that were just two feet abovehightide.[3] A PNAB civilian contractor started work by bringing adredge onto Keehi lagoon in February 1943.[3] In April the military took over. The Army took over the dredging operation whileSeabees of the5th Naval Construction Battalion took over the airfield.[3] When they were done there would be three runways. The Navy would turn the airfield into a major facility by sending Seabees from the 13th, 64th and 133rd Construction Battalions to do it.[3]
Marine Corps Air Station Ewa was adjacent to NAS Barbers Point. Due to lack of space to expand Ewa for jet aircraft operations, the Marine Corps field was closed and merged into Barbers Point on June 18, 1952.
In 1962 NAS Barbers Point was used as a staging base forOperation Dominic. Experimentalnuclear weapons were loaded into twoB-52s at Barbers Point and flown to points nearKiritimati (Christmas Island) where they were dropped in 24 test detonations.B-57 sampler aircraft that had flown into the mushroom clouds were later flown to Barbers Point and scrubbed down to reduce their radioactivity.[4]
In 1972 the United States Army posted aCH-47 Chinook company, the 147th Assault Support Helicopter Company "Hillclimbers", supporting the Army's25th Infantry Division andUnited States Army Pacific, and it was moved to the historicWheeler Army Airfield,Schofield Barracks, for Hawaii Army National Guard use.
In May 1976 theJoint Casualty Resolution Center moved here fromThailand.[5]
NAS Barbers Point was closed byBase Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action in 1999, with the Navy aircraft, primarilyP-3COrion maritime patrol aircraft assigned to squadrons of Patrol Wing Two, relocating toMarine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, nowMarine Corps Base Hawaii, on the other side of the island.
Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, with its complement ofHH-65Dolphin helicopters andHC-130HHercules aircraft, remained after the Navy's departure; Barbers Point is the onlyCoast Guard Air Station within the 14th US Coast Guard District.
With the closure of NAS Barbers Point, the present day Kalaeloa Airport / John Rodgers Field became home toNaval Air Museum Barbers Point, which preserved the history of the base and a collection of aircraft that reflected the US Navy's, US Marine Corps', US Coast Guard's and US Army's aviation presence on Barbers Point and in the state of Hawaii. The museum closed in 2020.
By early 2017, the massive building which once served as the air station's aircraft intermediate maintenance facility had been leased byNavy Region Hawaii to the Hawaiian Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and the Hawaii State Film Office for use as afilm andtelevision studio. The Hawaii State Film Office had been interested in developing space on the former airfield into a filming studio to complement the department's first studio, theHawaii Film Studio atDiamond Head in East Oahu. Donne Dawson, commissioner of the Hawaii State Film Office, stated that the new facility would "have all the components of a film office, such as office space for all departments, space for their props and wardrobes and a mill for set construction," and noted that, had Navy Region Hawaii not agreed to the lease, "there were not a lot of options" available to interested production companies beyond retrofitting warehouse space.ABC Studios andMarvel Television'sInhumans was the first production to use the newly created production facility.[6]
Barbers Point consists of at least 35 sites where soil and or groundwater were contaminated per the DOD. As of 2017, 34 had been cleaned up, according to the DOD. This does not mean that these sites are no longer hazardous, as many of these sites were put under long-term monitoring or other restrictions.[7]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
Previously: Hawaiian Air Force (1940-1942) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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