Dillingham Airfield is a public and military use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) west of the central business district of Mokulēia, in Honolulu County on the North Shore of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is operated by the Hawaii Department of Transportation under a 50-year lease from the United States Army. The airport is primarily used for gliding and sky diving operations, and also houses Civil Air Patrol (CAP) glider aircraft. Military operations consist largely of night operations for night vision device training and orientation flights for the United States Air Force Auxiliary (CAP). This airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a basic general aviation facility.

History

thumb|220px|left|Dillingham Airfield soon after construction during [[World War II]]

A communications station called Camp Kawaihapai was established here in 1922 on along the Oahu Railway and Land Company line.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the railroad transported mobile coast artillery to the site.

By 1941, the Army leased additional land and established Mokulēia Airstrip. Curtiss P-40 fighters were deployed at North Shore airstrips at Kahuku, Haleiwa and Mokulēia when the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. Aircraft taking off from nearby Haleiwa destroyed several attacking aircraft.

The runway was paved, extended to long, and a crosswind runway added from 1942 to 1945. By the end of World War II, Mokulēia Airfield could handle B-29 Superfortress bombers. In 1946, the Army acquired an additional .

In 1948, the airfield was inactivated and renamed Dillingham Air Force Base in memory of Captain Henry Gaylord Dillingham, a B-29 airman who was killed in action over Kawasaki, Japan on July 25, 1945. Captain Dillingham was the son of Walter F. Dillingham and grandson of Benjamin Dillingham who founded the railroad which evolved into Hawaiian Dredging Company and the Dillingham Corporation.

Authority

thumb|right|Two [[Schweizer SGS 2-32s used for tourist flights, Dillingham Airfield Oahu, 1993]]

Dillingham Airfield is part of a centralized state structure governing all of the airports and seaports of Hawaii. The official authority of Dillingham Airfield is the Governor of Hawaii. The governor appoints the Director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation who has jurisdiction over the Hawaii Airports Administrator.

The Hawaii Airports Administrator oversees six governing bodies: Airports Operations Office, Airports Planning Office, Engineering Branch, Information Technology Office, Staff Services Office, Visitor Information Program Office. Collectively, the six bodies have authority over the four airport districts in Hawaii: Hawaii District, Kauai District, Maui District and the principal Oahu District. Dillingham Airfield is a subordinate of the Oahu District officials.

Filming location

The television series Lost filmed several scenes at Dillingham Airfield, due to its remote location close to the North Shore, where the series was primarily filmed.

The fuselage from the fictional Oceanic Airlines flight 815 is also stored at Dillingham, and was transported to the beach when needed for filming.

Accidents and incidents

  • On June 21, 2019, a Beechcraft King Air operated by the Oahu Parachute Center crashed at Dillingham Airfield while taking off for a sunset skydiving flight, killing all 11 people on board.

See also

  • Hawaii World War II Army Airfields
  • List of airports in Hawaii

References

  • Maurer, Maurer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
  • Hawaii DOT page for Dillingham Airfield
  • Topographic map from USGS The National Map

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