Designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Wheeler Army Airfield is a key cog in Department of Defense operations in the Pacific.

Located on 1,389 acres adjacent to Schofield Barracks, the airfield was cleared by soldiers from Schofield Barracks in 1922 and named in honor of Maj. Sheldon Harley Wheeler, the late commander of Luke Field on Ford Island.

Wheeler Field, as it was then called, gained prominence through its involvement in the first nonstop Mainland-to-Hawai'i flight in 1927, the first trans-Pacific flight from Hawai'i to Australia in 1928, and Amelia Earhart's historic flight from Hawai'i to the Mainland in 1935.

The airfield was a principal target of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Nearly two-thirds of the planes at the field were destroyed as Japanese fighters sought to pre-empt an air defense to the attack.

Control of the airfield (renamed Wheeler Air Force Base) shifted to Pacific Air Forces in 1947 when the U.S. Air Force became a separate branch of service. It was returned to the Army in 1991 and renamed Wheeler Army Airfield.

Today, the airfield is home to the Defense Information Services Agency, the Air Force's 6010th Aerospace Defense Group, the Hawai'i Army National Guard's Aviation Support Facility, the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Aviation Brigade and other operations.

Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command, Wheeler Army Airfield Historic Guide and Advertiser archives.