page_title: Henderson Field (Guadalcanal)
section_title: United States seizure and Battle of Guadalcanal
hierarchical_section_title: Henderson Field (Guadalcanal) / History / United States seizure and Battle of Guadalcanal
caption_attribution_description: English: Boeing B-17E 41-9122 (Eager Beavers), 11th Bomb Group, 42d Bomb Squadron, taxiing on 2 engines at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
context_page_description: Henderson Field is a former military airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands during World War II. Originally built by the Japanese, the conflict over its possession was one of the great battles of the Pacific war. Today it is Honiara International Airport.
context_section_description: On 7 August 1942, American forces of the United States 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain.
  The Marines overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as the nearly completed RXI airfield which was being built by the Japanese on Guadalcanal.  The captured airfield was named Henderson Field in honor of United States Marine Corps Major Lofton Henderson, commanding officer of VMSB-241 who was killed during the Battle of Midway while leading his squadron into action against the Japanese carrier forces, thereby becoming the first Marine aviator to perish during the battle.
  The first aircraft to land on the field was a  PBY patrol bomber on August 12. On August 20, thirty-one Marine aircraft (F4F Wildcat fighters and SBD Dauntless dive bombers) were launched by USS Long Island from south of Guadalcanal, forming the field's first permanent air contingent. Two days later, a squadron of U.S. Army P-400 Airacobra (P-39 variant) fighters arrived, and in the coming months a number of B-17s and U.S. Navy aircraft used the base.
  Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, during which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and to land enough troops to retake it was defeated.
  In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal, conceding the island to the Allies and evacuating their last forces, while harassed and pursued by the U.S. Army's XIV Corps, by 7 February 1943.
caption: Boeing B-17E of 11th Bomb Group, 42d Bomb Squadron (Eager Beavers) at Henderson Field in 1943
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