Editing Johnston Atoll (section)

===Airfield===
{{main|Johnston Island Air Force Base}}
[[File:Johnston Atoll 2.jpg|thumb|Map of Johnston Atoll from a 1970 atlas]]
By September 1941, construction of an [[Johnston Island Air Force Base|airfield]] on Johnston Island commenced. A {{convert|4000|by|500|ft|adj=mid}} runway was built with two 400-man barracks, two mess halls, a cold-storage building, an underground hospital, a fresh-water plant, shop buildings, and fuel storage. The runway was complete by December 7, 1941, though in December 1943, the [[Seabee|99th Naval Construction Battalion]] arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to {{convert|6000|ft|}}.<ref name=Bases/> The runway was lengthened and improved as the island was enlarged.

During [[World War II]], Johnston Atoll was used as a refueling base for submarines and also as an aircraft refueling stop for American bombers transiting the Pacific Ocean, including the [[Boeing B-29]] [[Enola Gay]].<ref name="Polmar2004">{{cite book|author=Norman Polmar|title=The Enola Gay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2WDMKo9DqcC&pg=PA20|year=2004|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-59797-506-3|pages=20–|access-date=November 7, 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929044504/https://books.google.com/books?id=_2WDMKo9DqcC&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1944, the atoll was one of the busiest air transport terminals in the Pacific. [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|Air Transport Command]] aeromedical evacuation planes stopped at Johnston en route to Hawaii. Following [[V-J Day]] on August 14, 1945, Johnston Atoll saw the flow of men and aircraft coming from the mainland into the Pacific turn around. By 1947, over 1,300 B-29 and [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24]] bombers had passed through the [[Marianas]], [[Kwajalein]], Johnston Island, and [[Oahu]] en route to [[Mather Field]] and civilian life.

Following World War II, [[Johnston Atoll Airport]] was used commercially by [[Continental Air Micronesia]], touching down between Honolulu and [[Majuro]]. When the aircraft landed, soldiers surrounded the aircraft, and passengers were not allowed to leave the aircraft. [[Aloha Airlines]] also made weekly scheduled flights to the island carrying civilian and military personnel. In the 1990s, there were flights almost daily. Some days saw up to three arrivals.<ref name="Airfields">{{cite web|url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/HI/Airfields_W_Pacific.htm|title=Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Western Pacific Islands|access-date=September 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904085953/http://www.airfields-freeman.com/HI/Airfields_W_Pacific.htm|archive-date=September 4, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Just before movement of the chemical munitions to Johnston Atoll, the Surgeon General, Public Health Service, reviewed the shipment and the Johnston Atoll storage plans. His recommendations caused the Secretary of Defense to issue instructions in December 1970 to suspend missile launches and all non-essential aircraft flights. As a result, Air Micronesia's service was immediately discontinued, and missile firings were terminated, except for two 1975 satellite launches deemed critical to the island's mission.<ref name="Baseline"/>
 
There were many times when the runway was needed for emergency landings for civil and military aircraft. When the runway was decommissioned, it could no longer be a potential emergency landing place when planning flight routes across the Pacific Ocean. As of 2003, the airfield at Johnston Atoll consisted of an unmaintained closed single {{convert|9000|ft}} asphalt/concrete runway 5/23, a parallel taxiway, and a large paved ramp along the southeast side of the runway.<ref name="Airfields"/>