Type Military airfield Year built 1944 | In use 1944–1949 | |
 | ||
Controlled by United States Army Air Forces, United States Air Force | ||
Harmon Air Force Base is a former World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield, and postwar United States Air Force Base on Guam in the Mariana Islands. Originally named "Depot Field", it was renamed in honor of Lieutenant General Millard F. Harmon, who disappeared on 26 February 1945 on a flight from Kwajalein to Hawaii. Despite the most intensive search by Army and Navy planes and surface vessels, no trace of the plane was ever found. On February 25, 1946, he was declared officially dead.
Contents
History
Harmon Field was the headquarters for the XXI Bomber Command and later Twentieth Air Force which directed the B-29 Superfortress strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese Home Islands. It was also the major B-29 aircraft depot and maintenance facility in the Western Pacific during the war, and that mission continued for Far East Air Forces until its closure.
Harmon was used operationally by the USAF 11th Bombardment Group as an operational B-29 Base. After the war the 9th Bombardment Group used the base for strategic reconnaissance missions and the 374th Troop Carrier Group of the Technical Service Command used the base for transport of supplies and equipment from its depot facilities. Harmon AFB was closed in 1949 due to budget constraints and was merged with the neighboring Naval Air Station Agana.
Today, the technical facilities are an industrial area to the northeast of the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, which served as the main airfield for both Harmon AFB and NAS Agana.