Central Field ( Iwo Jima ) Central Field or Iwo Jima Air Base is a World War II airfield on Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands , located in the Central Pacific . The Bonin Islands are part of Japan . Today , the base is the only airfield on the island , operated by the Japan Self - Defense Forces . History . Located south and west of the midpoint between Tokyo and Saipan , the island of Iwo Jima was needed by the United States Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force as an emergency landing facility for its B - 29 Superfortress strategic bombing campaign against the Empire of Japan . United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima February 19 , 1945 . The first day saw 2 , 400 American casualties . During the battle U . S . Marines , sailors and soldiers killed an estimated 20 , 000 Japanese and captured over 1 , 000 prisoners . On March 25 the Battle of Iwo Jima was declared over and the island secured , although mopping up continued until July . United States Army units , including the 147th Infantry also participated in the battle . Central Field was one of three Japanese airfields built on Iwo Jima . Reconstruction and expansion work was held up by the protracted land battle , on 16 March it too was operational , with the east - northeast to west - southwest runway graded to 5 , 200 - feet ( 1 , 585 - meters ) and the east - west runway to 4 , 800 - feet ( 1 , 463 - meters ) . A second runway parallel to the east - northeast to west - southwest runway was also built ; both were built to accommodate B - 29s . By 7 July 1945 , the first B - 29 runway had been paved to 8 , 500 feet ( 2 , 591 - meters ) and placed in operation . During the day , 102 B - 29s , returning from a raid on Japan , landed on the field . Several sub - grade failures occurred in the construction because of ground water and soft spots in the sub - grade . In some places the paving sealed off steam which had been generated below the surface and when the steam condensed , the sub - grade became saturated . By 12 July , the B - 29 runway had been completed and paved for a length of 9 , 800 - by - 200 - feet ( 2 , 987 - by - 61 - meters ) . The parallel runway was eventually lengthened to 9 , 400 - feet ( 2 , 865 - meters ) , both with a width of 200 - feet ( 61 - meters ) . The east - west runway built by the Japanese was developed into a fueling strip , 6 , 000 - by - 570 - feet ( 1 , 829 - by - 174 - meters ) , with 60 fueling outlets . For normal operations , this field could accommodate 120 P - 51s and 30 B - 24s and 20 B - 29s . Central Field was also the headquarters for VII Fighter Command ( assigned to Twentieth Air Force ) from March 1 – December 1 , 1945 , along with the intelligence - gathering 41st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron from August though mid - September 1945 . Operational fighter squadrons which performed B - 29 escort missions from Central Field were : After the war , the 20th Air Force fighter squadrons moved out to Japan , Okinawa or the Philippines and Central Field came under the Jurisdiction of Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) , becoming a refueling stop for MATS aircraft in the Western Pacific . It hosted various communications , weather as well as Far East Materiel Command units for supply and maintenance activities . It was under the command of the Iwo Jima Base Command , as a satellite of the 6000th Support Wing , Tachikawa Air Base , Japan . It was likely classified as a remote assignment for military personnel , as other than rudimentary medical and personnel living facilities , no family housing or other quality of life facilities were built to accommodate families for accompanied tours . A third Japanese airfield ( Motoyama No . 3 ) was also reconstructed as " North Field " . It required much new construction in rough terrain which consisted principally of consolidated volcanic ash . The initial portion of the work in preparing the sub - grade for the runway entailed the moving of about 200 , 000 - cubic - yards ( 152 , 911 - cubic - meters ) of rock and volcanic ash . Seabee construction was stopped on 27 April and the project was turned over to a USAAF aviation engineer battalion for completion . By V - J day a runway 6 , 000 - feet ( 1 , 829 - meters ) long , had been graded and was paved to 5 , 500 - feet ( 1 , 676 - meters ) ; 10 , 000 - feet ( 3 , 048 - meters ) of taxiways had been graded ; and 129 fighter hardstands provided . This field could normally accommodate 50 P - 51s and 14 B - 24s ( and eight B - 29s in an emergency ) . North Field was abandoned after the war ; its facilities were used for revetments and munitions storage in support of the other two airfields . Central Field stayed in American hands until being turned over to the Japanese Government on 27 June 1968 . It then became a navigation and weather station of the Japan Maritime Self - Defense Force ( Nihon Kaijo Jieitai ) , and is still used by the U . S . military as an aircraft refueling depot and as a U . S . Navy special pilot training facility . At any given time about 350 JSDF personnel are posted to Iwo Jima and though the airfield is strictly for military use , commercial flights carrying Veterans are frequent visitors . External links .