Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay or MCAS Kaneohe Bay is a United States Marine Corps airfield located within the Marine Corps Base Hawaii complex , formerly known as Marine Corps Air Facility ( MCAF ) Kaneohe Bay or Naval Air Station ( NAS ) Kaneohe Bay . It is located two miles ( 3 km ) northeast of the central business district of Kaneohe , in Honolulu County , Hawaii , United States . The airfield has one runway ( 4 / 22 ) with a 7 , 771 x 200 ft ( 2 , 369 x 61 m ) asphalt surface . History . Fort Hase and NAS Kaneohe Bay . The United States Army acquired of the peninsula when President Woodrow Wilson signed executive order 2900 establishing the Kuwaaohe Military Reservation . Little is known about the operations of the fort , however , at the end of World War I , the military property was leased for ranching . In 1939 , Kuwaaohe was reactivated , subjected to many name changes to include Camp Ulupa ’ u , and eventually named Fort Hase . Prior to and during World War II , Fort Hase grew from a humble beginning as a defense battalion to a major unit of the Windward Costal Artillery Command . Navy planners began to eye the peninsula in 1939 as the home of a strategic seaplane base . They liked the isolated location , the flat plains for an airfield and the probability of flights into prevailing trade winds . In 1939 , the Navy acquired of the peninsula for use of the PBY Catalina Patrol seaplanes for long - range reconnaissance flights . One year later , the Navy owned all of the Mokapu Peninsula except for Fort Hase . On December 7 , 1941 , the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the air station minutes prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor . Of the 36 Catalinas stationed here , 27 were destroyed and six others were damaged , along with 18 sailors who perished in the attack . The first Japanese aircraft destroyed in action were shot down at Kaneohe , along with Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer John William Finn becoming one of the first Medal of Honor recipients of World War II for valor on that day . During the war , the air station was a major training base in the Pacific Theater . The Fleet Gunnery School trained thousands of Navy gunners . There was a school for celestial navigation , sonar , aircraft recognition , and turret operations . Flight instructors also trained Navy and Marine Corps aviators in flight operations prior to being sent to a forward combat area . Following the war , Fort Hase had become a skeleton outpost and the air station consisted of limited air operations , a small security detachment , and a federal communications center . Marine Operations . In 1949 , the Navy decommissioned the air station . On January 15 , 1952 the Marine Corps re - commissioned the idle airfield Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay , making it an ideal training site for a combined air / ground team . Station Operations and Headquarters Squadron supported flight operations until June 30 , 1972 , when Station Operations and Maintenance Squadron was commissioned in its place . SOMS served until it was disbanded on July 30 , 1994 . Marine Corps Air Facility Kaneohe Bay was formed on that date and continues today to serve the operational needs of the aviation community . On May 28 , 1987 , the National Register of Historic Places listed " Kaneohe Naval Air Station " as a historic district and a National Historic Landmark . Following the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision to close Naval Air Station Barbers Point , the base acquired 4 Navy P - 3 Orion patrol squadrons and one SH - 60 Seahawk Anti - Submarine squadron in 1999 . Today there are almost 10 , 000 active duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel there , directed by Marine Aircraft Group 24 and Navy Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2 . The installation was re - designated as an Air Station ( vice an Air Facility ) in May 2009 . At the same time , the airfield was named for MajGen Marion Eugene Carl , and the Corps announced that new squadrons would be stationed there .