Northwest Field (Guam)
| Northwest Field Northwest Guam AFB .png) |
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|---|---|
| Part of Twentieth Air Force | |
 Northwest Field, Guam (2000s (decade)) |
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| Coordinates | 13°37′15.09″N 144°51′24.93″E / 13.6208583°N 144.8569250°E |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1945 |
| In use | 1945–1946 |
Northwest Field is a former World War II airfield on Guam in the Mariana Islands. It was closed in 1949 and is unused.
Northwest Field was constructed in 1944–45 near Ritidian Point on the northwest end of the island of Guam as a base for Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortresses to carry out the strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese Home Islands. Construction was accomplished by the Army Air Corps 1865th Aviation Engineering Battalion and United States Navy Seabees. Deployed ground echelon personnel also assisted in construction, prior to the arrival of their group's air echelon.
In April 1945, it became the home of the 315th Bombardment Wing, the command organization for the 16th (Diamond-B), 331st (Diamond-L), 501st (Diamond-Y) and 502d Bombardment Groups (Diamond-H).
The field ultimately had two runways, the north and south runways. The south runway was the first to be completed. However, when the first 315th aircraft were deployed to Guam, the south runway was still under construction, and they had to land at nearby North Field (which eventually became today's Andersen AFB). When the main air echelons of the 16th and 501st Bomb Groups arrived the south runway was complete, but the taxiways were not. Aircraft had to be towed to their parking spaces over the rough coral. By the time the air echelons of the 331st and 502nd Bomb Groups arrived, both runways were complete. The 331st Bomb Group used the ramp space in the center of the base, the 502nd Bomb Group used the area on the east side, and the 16th and 501st Bomb Groups used ramp space on the west side.
The 315th Bomb Wing was unique as its groups flew the B-29B Superfortress, the only true variant of the B-29 ever manufactured. These aircraft were actually stripped-down versions of the normal B-29, bereft of the General Electric gun system and a variety of other components, in order to save weight and increase bomb-carrying capacity. The resultant unladen weight of 69,000 pounds was a vast improvement, lessening the strain on engines and airframe and enabling the payload to be increased from 12,000 to 18,000 pound ordnance. In addition, the 502nd and all of the other 315th groups were equipped with the new AN/APQ-7 "Eagle" radar sets, which gave a much clearer presentation of ground images through a wing-shaped radar vane slung beneath the fuselage. It also gave a biplane effect in appearance. The "Eagle" was the product of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Eagle radar development group. It had been designed especially for night missions.
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