Editing Palmyra Atoll (section)

==Airport==
[[File:PalmyraAirstrip.jpg|thumb|Palmyra Airstrip on Cooper Islet]]

'''Palmyra (Cooper) Airport''' {{Airport codes||PLPA|P16}} is an unattended [[airport]] on Palmyra Atoll in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. It is a private-use facility, originally built during [[World War II]] and now owned by [[The Nature Conservancy]]. It has one [[runway]] (6/24) measuring {{Convert|5000|x|150|ft|abbr=on|0}}.<ref name=FAA>{{FAA-airport|ID=P16|use=PR|own=PR|site=51525.5*A}}, effective 2007-08-30</ref> When built, the airport was called '''Palmyra Atoll Airfield''', and later '''Palmyra Island Naval Air Station''' as it was a former Naval airfield on the Palmyra Atoll in the [[Line Islands]] of the [[Central Pacific Area]]. The name for the airport comes from [[Henry Ernest Cooper Sr.]] (1857–1929), who owned Palmyra from 1911 to 1922.<ref>{{cite web |title= Palmyra Atoll |work= Office of Insular Affairs web site |publisher= United States Department of Interior |url= http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/palmyrapage.htm |access-date= August 12, 2010 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120111123148/http://www.doi.gov/oia/Islandpages/palmyrapage.htm |archive-date= January 11, 2012 }}</ref>
[[File:PalmyraSandIsland.jpg|thumb|Sand Island in the 21st century]]
Preliminary surveys were made by the U.S. Navy in 1938 for an airfield at this location. The first Navy group to begin construction sailed from Honolulu on November 14, 1939. The runway was made from crushed coral and expanded during [[World War II]]. During World War II, the [[Seebee|U.S. Naval Construction Battalion]] dredged a channel so that ships could enter the protected lagoons and bulldozed coral rubble into a long, unpaved landing strip for refueling transpacific supply planes at the airbase. On January 16, 1942, six [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]] bombers from Hawaii were stationed at the airbase, commanded by Lt. Col. [[Walter C. Sweeney Jr.]] as part of Hawaiian Air Force's Task Group 8. Marine Corps [[VMFA-211|VMF-211]] pilots also used the airfield.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.3rdmaw.marines.mil/Units/MAG-13/VMFA-211/History/ |title=VMFA-211 history |website=3rd Marine Aircraft Wing |access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref> During World War II, two other runways were built and used, one on Meng Island and another on Sand Island. These runways are now overgrown with plants and returning to the jungle. The U.S. Air Force maintained the main airfield until 1961.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 20, 2016 |edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/HI/Airfields_W_Pacific.htm |website=airfields-freeman.com |title=Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields: Western Pacific Islands |last=Freeman |first=Paul |access-date=2016-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904085953/http://www.airfields-freeman.com/HI/Airfields_W_Pacific.htm |archive-date=2014-09-04 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The airstrip still exists today but can be used only after prior permission has been obtained or in an emergency.<ref>Airnav.com – [http://www.airnav.com/airport/P16 PLPA / Palmyra Atoll Airfield] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515214719/https://www.airnav.com/airport/P16 |date=May 15, 2021 }}, page retrieved 21 November 2013.</ref>