page_title: Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Marine Corps Air Station Futenma / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This photograph is an overhead aerial photo of Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, taken circa 1945, right after the end of World War II and the liberation of the island from the Imperial Army of Japan.
context_page_description: Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, 5 NM northeast of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 3,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and other units, and has been a U.S. military airbase since the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Marine Corps pilots and aircrew are assigned to the base for training and providing air support to other land and sea-based Marines in Okinawa and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. MCAS Futenma is part of the Marine Corps Installations Pacific command.
  MCAS Futenma is situated in Ginowan City. The base includes a 2,740 by 45 m runway at 75 meters elevation, as well as extensive barracks, administrative and logistical facilities. The air station is tasked with operating a variety of fixed wing, rotary wing and tilt rotor aircraft in support of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, the Japan U.S. defense alliance and many allies and treaty partners in the region.
context_section_description: Futenma Airfield was constructed by the US military following the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. According to Ginowan City records, the joint population of what was then Ginowan Village (now Ginowan City) was 12,994 in 1944. It was initially allocated for Eighth Air Force use to station B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers in the planned Invasion of Japan. With the end of the war, the airfield became a United States Air Force Far East Air Force installation known as Futenma Air Base, and was used as a support airfield for the nearby Kadena Air Base, hosting fighter-interceptor squadrons as part of the air defense of the Ryukyu Islands. The base was transferred to the United States Navy on 30 June 1957 and was subsequently developed into a United States Marine Corps air station by Seabees from USN Mobile Construction Battalion 3 augmented by a detachment from MCB 2. When the Seabees were done they had also made facilities on the base for Navy Communications Unit 37 Futenma to transfer from Kadena.  In 1957 the name changed to Naval Security Group Activity Futenma and changed again in 1960 to Naval Security Group Hanza. The group decommissioned on Futenma in 1999.
  Each year, MCAS Futenma opens its gates for the Futenma Flight Line Fair, which includes U.S. band performances, entertainment, static displays of all aircraft, military vehicles and demonstrations.
caption: Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, Japan circa 1945
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