Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pearl Lochs

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within a moku.)

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs. This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds. (Cultural Surveys) ʻEwa was the second most productive taro cultivation area on Oʻahu (just behind Waikīkī.)  (Laimana)

The salient feature of ‘Ewa, and perhaps its most notable point of difference, is its spacious coastal plain, surrounding the deep bays (“lochs”) of Pearl Harbor, which are actually the drowned seaward valleys of ‘Ewa’s main streams, Waikele and VVaipi’o.

The Hawaiian name for Pearl Harbor was Ke-awa-lau-o-Pu‘uloa, The-many (lau)-harbors (awa)-of-Pu‘uloa. Pu‘uloa was the rounded area projecting into the sea at the long narrow entrance of the harbor.  Another and more poetic name was Awawa-lei, Garland (lei)-of-harbors.

The English name ‘Pearl’ was given to it because of the prevalence of pearl oysters (pipi) in the deep harbor waters.  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch).  (Nohopapa, KSBE)  For some time, Pearl Harbor was also known as Pearl Lochs and Pearl River.

These bays offered the most favorable locality in all the Hawaiian Islands for the building of fishponds and fish traps into which deep-sea fish came on the inflow of tidal waters. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

In Hawaiian traditions, Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) consists of three distinct awalau, or lochs, including Kaihuopala‘ai (West Loch), Wai‘awa (Middle Loch) and Komoawa (East Loch).  (Nohopapa, KSBE) 

‘Loch’ is a Scottish and/or Irish term that refers to a lake or bay that is nearly landlocked. So, when and why did the term ‘loch’ come in as names these awalau?

Let’s look back …

Liholiho was the son of Kamehameha I.  Upon his father’s death Liholiho became Kamehameha II. Liholiho’s reign was also noted for his efforts to ensure the lasting independence of the Hawaiian kingdom.

In 1823, Liholiho and his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, sailed to England to meet with King George IV, the first Ali‘i to travel to England.  King George IV scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill.  The Hawaiian court had caught measles, to which they had no immunity.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School).

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children. On the 8th of July the Queen died, a few days later, King Liholiho died.  His reign was approximately 5-years.

In 1824, Great Britain sent the bodies of Kamehameha II and his Queen back to Hawai‘i on the HMS Blonde, under the command of Lord Byron.

The British Government took advantage of this opportunity to acquire more detailed information concerning the islands; and to that end, included in the personnel of the ship a party of scientists.

Among these was a Lieut. Charles Malden, a surveyor, who during the stay of the ship, made a comprehensive and extensive survey of several harbors and roadsteads (offshore ship mooring areas).

One of these surveys was a fairly complete charting of the whole of Pearl Harbor, with soundings taken throughout the entrance channel and the three main lochs. The chart resulting from this survey was printed in 1841 by the British Hydrographic Office. (Navy)

Today, that map is also identified as Registered Map #437, Honolulu Harbor, South Coast of O‘ahu. (A copy of it is included in the album associated with this post.) It seems others replicated the names of the lochs of that 1825 map in what we now refer to as Pearl Harbor.

The answer to the previous question of when and why the awalau were called ‘lochs’ comes from the Diary of James Macrae, who was aboard the Blonde and sailed with Malden.  Macrae wrote,

“Pearl River is about seven miles west of Hanarura, and is improperly called a river, being rather inlets from the sea, branching off in different directions.  There are three chief branches, named by the surveyors, the East, Middle and West Lochs.” (Macrae)

While we are familiar with the East, Middle and West Lochs, there were other areas within Pearl Harbor that were also referred to as lochs: Southeast Loch, West Loch Branch and, later, Magazine Loch, Quarry Loch and Merry Loch.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Spring Forward

Shortly after contact, there wasn’t always agreement about what time or date it actually was … time-keeping practices varied in the 18th century, depending on circumstances.

In the 1880s, changes were being made in timekeeping practices. Several large nations still recognized prime meridians other than the one through Greenwich, and some continued to differ on the definition of a “day.”

In 1883, the US railroad industry divided the continental US into five (later four) time zones, establishing official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. (National Geographic)

The civil population nevertheless adopted ‘Railroad Time’ almost spontaneously; 85% of US towns of over ten-thousand inhabitants had done so by October 1884.

Hawaiʻi did not adopt standard time until 1896, with various notices published in the papers: “Hawaiian standard time will be ten and one-half hours slow of Greenwich.”

“The half hour is chosen for the reason that the Hawaiian group, while limited in area, is almost centrally on the line between the ten-hour and eleven-hour belt, and the inconvenience of a wide difference between standard and local time is thus avoided.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 9, 1896)

“The meridian adopted, 157 deg 30 min, is not far from central to the group. The Kauai people will be expected to set their local time ahead 8-minutes and Niihau 10-minutes; the Maui people will set back local time on an average four minutes.”

“The Hilo people, if they fall into line, will set back ten minutes, and Kona from 7 to 8 minutes.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 9, 1896)

It was not until 1918 that an Act of Congress set standard time all over the US, as well as daylight savings time. (Howse)

The 1918 act of Congress, ‘To save daylight and to provide standard time, for the United States’ provided for nationwide daylight saving time from March through October.

Congress also determined “That, for the purpose of establishing the standard time of the United States, the territory of continental United States shall be divided into five zones in the manner hereinafter provided. …”

“That the standard time of the first zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Eastern Time; that of the second zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Central Time …”

“…that of the third zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Mountain Time; that of the fourth zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Pacific Time; and that of the fifth zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Alaska Time.” (Public No 106, approved by Congress March 19, 1918)

“Daylight saving plan was again agitated for these islands the early part of this year, and, in April, on official orders from Washington, the navy department here set their clocks forward an hour, but it did not last long. Cutting a foot off the end of Pat’s blanket to add to its head was found to give no greater length or warmth.” (Thrum)

The daylight saving provision was repealed in 1919, leaving intact the standard time system. (Schmitt & Cox)

Notwithstanding this official acceptance of standard time, many plantations persisted in the use of local time, or their own variations on it. The individual plantations had elected to adopt time systems that varied somewhat from the local times pertinent to the meridians at their centers.

The primary determinant of the difference between one of these plantation times and the pertinent local time was the local time of sunrise. Hence the plantation time systems were essentially daylight saving time systems.

There was no requirement that the difference between a plantation time and either the normal local time of the plantation headquarters or standard time, when that was adopted, be an even half-hour or hour, or that there be but one advance and one retardation of time in a year.

The time on a plantation was, indeed, more likely to be something like 11 minutes ahead or 14 minutes behind standard time, and changes of a few minutes might be made at intervals of only a few weeks.

Standard time was kept in Honolulu, in non-plantation towns, and at ports serving more than one plantation; and social events involving people from more than one plantation were scheduled by what was known as “Honolulu time,” “Hilo time,” etc. (Schmitt & Cox)

In 1933, the Hawaiʻi Legislature decreed daylight saving for the period between the last Sunday of each April and last Sunday of each September, but less than a month later repealed the act.

WWII brought daylight saving back to the Islands.

“(T)he standard time of each zone established pursuant to the Act entitled ‘An Act to save daylight and to provide standard time for the United States’, approved March 19, 1918, as amended, shall be advanced one hour.” (Public Law 403, approved January 20, 1942)

Year-round daylight saving time, one hour ahead of Hawaiian Standard Time, was established in the Territory during World War II by General Order No. 66 of the military governor, taking effect on February 9, 1942. The new time quickly became known as “Hawaiian War Time.” (Schmitt & Cox)

“Daylight saving has given us another hour before the nightly blackout, which begins at 7:30 pm and lasts until 7:00 am. The curfew for pedestrians has been changed from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, but cars are still not allowed on the streets after 7:30 pm. This means no late afternoon or evening meetings of any kind.” (Journal of Nursing, 1942)

With the end of the war and the expiration of War Time on September 30, 1945, Hawai’i reverted (notwithstanding a good deal of debate) to the pre-war standard time; and it was not until 1947 that the change was made to the present system of standard time.

In 1947, the Territorial Legislature permanently returned to the pre-war standard time – however, they also advanced Hawaiian Standard Time by 30 minutes, making it 10 (instead of 10-1/2) hours slower than Greenwich Mean Time, and thus two hours (not 2½) behind Pacific Standard Time. This change became effective the second Sunday of June, 1947. (Schmitt & Cox)

The issue resurfaced in 1966, when the Uniform Time Act of that year mandated daylight saving time during the spring and summer months nationwide unless State legislative bodies specifically exempted their jurisdictions.

Reasoning that Hawai‘i already had year-round partial DST – since 1947, Hawaiian Standard Time had been 31 minutes ahead of sun time in Honolulu – the 1967 Legislature voted to exempt the Islands. (Schmitt & Cox)

In 2005, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, effective starting in 2007, that declared daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March (‘spring forward’) and ends on the first Sunday in November (‘fall back’,) with the time changes taking place at 2 am local time.

Today, most on the continent advance their clocks and watches an hour forward, as daylight savings time kicks in.

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Dali-The Persistence of Memory-1931
Dali-The Persistence of Memory-1931

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fleet Problem Number 13

It is important to learn from our experiences …

“The aircraft was invented in 1903 and, almost immediately, the military started to look at how to use the technology in combat. But different military branches from different nations moved at different speeds, and many navies considered planes an observation platform and nothing more.”

“In World War I, pilots bombed enemy targets by throwing munitions from their planes, but aerial bombing was still considered a stunt by many, and the U.S. Navy brass was convinced that airplanes weren’t a threat to their capital ships.” (Nye)

“Between the wars, aviation pioneers tried to get the Navy and Army to understand how important planes would be in the next war. Army Gen. William ‘Billy’ Mitchell had some success in 1921 when his men sank the captured German battleship Ostrfriesland in a test.” (Nye)

“[F]rom 1923 to 1940, the Navy ran a series of exercises, collectively called the Navy Fleet Problems, that provided opportunities to test new technology, revise outdated doctrine, prepare for future conflict, and advance a common understanding of naval operations.”

“The fact that the Navy learned lessons in areas such as carrier aviation and submarine tactics with little danger to ships, resources, or personnel made the exercises noteworthy.”

“The Fleet Problems represented a unique period when Admirals, those at the highest level of naval command, critiqued their commanders in an open forum to improve the fleet. Likewise, the commanders, motivated by the same reasons, also felt free to point out institutional deficiencies.” (Sun, US Navy Fleet Problems)

Then … “Lights out, radios silenced, two carriers and their escorts slipped through the night, hiding in squalls and dark clouds. Before dawn, they struck.”

“Fighters snarled across the decks, then scout/attack aircraft, then dive bombers, then torpedo planes. Flashing blue flames, they banked to the southwest toward Oahu. It was a Sunday, and all of Hawaii slept.”

“Below lay Pearl Harbor.”

“The fighters dove first. They demolished aircraft on the ground, knocked out guns and pinned officers and men inside their barracks.”

“Then came the bombers and torpedo planes. They sank every battleship and cruiser in the harbor. ‘Everything went beautifully and according to plan’” an officer wrote afterward. ‘Our squadrons struck their targets shortly after it got light, taking them all by complete surprise.’”

“The date was Sunday, the seventh. But the month was February. And the year was 1932. The attacking carriers were the Saratoga and the Lexington. The fighters were Boeing-built U.S. F-4Bs. And the dive bombers were BM-1s. The sneak attack was commanded by of the U.S. Navy.”

“It was just an exercise.” (LA Times)

“Fleet Problem Number 13 was a mock attack by a ‘militaristic, Asian, island nation against the military base at Pearl Harbor.’”

“The exercise was designed to test Pearl’s defenses and assess its vulnerability to an attack.  The attacking force was under the command of Rear Admiral Harry Yarnell.”

“The admiral was a qualified naval aviator, one of the few admirals to have earned his aviator wings at a time when battleship command was still the path to promotions.”

“In 1927, he took command of the aircraft carrier Saratoga and was instrumental in developing carrier tactics. At the time, carriers were classified as ‘fleet scouting elements.’ They were not valued as capital ships and were considered expendable.”

“Yarnell maintained that Japan ‘had always started operations by attacking before a declaration of war.’ Accordingly, he designed an attack plan that utilized carrier aviation to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.”

“Pearl’s defenders had anticipated that Yarnell would attack with his battleships. Instead, he left his battleships behind and advanced with the carriers Saratoga and Lexington to a point north-northeast of Hawaii.”

“At dawn, on Sunday February 7, 1932, Yarnell launched his attack with a force of 152 planes from the two carriers. His attack force first attacked the airfields and then proceeded to attack the ships along battleship row.”

“Yarnell achieved total surprise. The airfields were put out of commission, with not a single plane getting airborne during the attack. The attacking force scored multiple hits, they dropped sacks of white flour to simulate bombs, on the battleships.”  (Military-com)

“In 1938, the same wargames were being played again to test Pearl Habor’s defenses. The attacking force was led by Admiral Ernest King, and Admiral Yarnell was working in the background to run the experiment a second time.”

“King took a single aircraft carrier escorted by destroyers to attack Pearl Harbor from the air. Coming in over the Koolau Range, he surprised the military base and won a decisive victory — just as Admiral Yarnell had done so in 1932.”

“As WWII got underway in the Pacific, Japan knew that it could not fend off a full-on assault by the U.S. Navy if the U.S. entered the war. Instead, they needed to launch a pre-emptive strike and hobble the U.S.’s ability to interfere with Japanese operations in the Pacific.”

“Thus, on December 7th, 1941, Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto pulled out the same military plans that Admiral Yarnell used almost 10 years before and launched his own assault on Pearl Harbor. This time, however, his planes would not be carrying ‘flour bombs’ and flares.”

“That Sunday morning, Yamamoto’s planes burst through a wall of clouds over the Koolau Range — and its fighters strafed the U.S. airfields before bombers descended on the island – and only then did the U.S. Navy accept that it should have paid heed to Admirals Yarnell and King when slight embarrassment was the only price it needed to pay.”  (Medium)

“Some think it was distinctly edifying to the Japanese, who [after Yarnell’s decisive exercise] executed what Arthur Radford, a young lieutenant commander and an aide to Yarnell, calls ‘almost a perfect duplicate.’”

“To Americans, however, the exercise was hardly edifying enough. Incredibly, the United States never woke up to the fact that Pearl Harbor–and, therefore, America itself–was vulnerable.”

“In 1932, Radford says, when Yarnell crept up on Hawaii and launched his planes, the exercise was ‘pretty well publicized.’ But Americans paid little attention. The nation was in a seminal transition. Provincial, self-indulgent and distracted by the Great Depression, America was struggling to reawaken to the world.” (LA Times)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Buffalo Soldiers Trail

In early 1911, geologist named Thomas A Jaggar convinced Frank A Perret, a world-famous American volcanologist he had met on Vesuvius Volcano in Italy, to travel to Hawai‘i to begin the observations of Kīlauea’s volcanic activity.

From July to October 1911, Perret conducted experiments and documented the lava lake activity within Kïlauea’s Halema‘uma‘u Crater, paving the way for Jaggar to pursue his life’s goal of using multiple scientific approaches and all available tools for the observation and measurement of volcanoes and earthquakes.

In 1911, the first scientific laboratory at Kilauea consisted of a crude wooden shack constructed on the edge of Halema‘uma‘u that was called the Technology Station. The next year saw the construction by Jaggar of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 

When Jaggar came to the Islands, he joined the efforts of George Lycurgus (operator of the Volcano House) and newspaperman Lorrin Andrews Thurston who were working to have the Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes area made into a National Park. 

Jaggar had tried to lead several expeditions to the top of Mauna Loa in 1914 but was unsuccessful due to the elevation (13,678 feet) and the harsh conditions: rough lava, violent winds, noxious fumes, shifting weather, extreme temperatures and a lack of shelter, water and food.  (Takara)

In September 1915, Jaggar, Thurston and a US Army representative conducted a survey to determine a route for a trail up Mauna Loa.

The following month, a local paper noted, “Soldiers Building Mountain Trail.  Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Infantry to the number of 150 are at work constructing a trail from near the Volcano House to the summit of Mauna Loa.”

“It is estimated that three or four weeks will be devoted to this work. The soldiers are doing the work as a part of their vacation exercises.”  (Maui News, October 29, 1915)

Immediately after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many African Americans found themselves newly freed from bondage. In 1866, congress created four military regiments made up of Black troops, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry – they were known colloquially as the Buffalo Soldiers. (NPS)

“Although Native Americans bestowed the name upon the troopers, there are differing accounts as to the reason. One account suggests the name was acquired during the 1871 campaign against the Comanches, when Indians referred to the cavalrymen as “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their rugged and tireless marching.”

“Other accounts state that Native Americans bestowed the nickname on the black troopers because they believed the hair of the black cavalrymen resembled the hair of the buffalo.”

“Another suggests that the name was given because of the buffalo-hide coats worn by the soldiers in cold weather. The troopers took the nickname as a sign of respect from Native Americans, who held great reverence for the buffalo, and eventually the Tenth Cavalry adopted the buffalo as part of its regimental crest.” (Plante)

“The generous cooperation of the United States Army has made the trail to the top of Mauna Loa and the rest houses at the top and midway thereto a certainty.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)

“The overpowering feature of the landscape, however, is the immediate foreground to the north and east. The trail up to Red Crater is through ordinary and rather monotonous lava flows; but from the top of the hill there literally bursts into view a scene of most violent volcanic activity that I have seen anywhere.”

“It is similar to the interior of Haleakala crater; and the top of Hualalai, but while those are old and faded, this is fiery red and inky black.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 11, 1915)

“During the past summer [in 1915] the promotion committee and Research Association formulated and presented its plan to the authorities of the County of Hawaii and the newly created Hawaii Publicity Committee …”

“… proposing that these two organizations with the assistance of private subscriptions should furnish the money necessary for the material involved, the work to be done by the county prisoners.”

“The county authorities and the publicity committee each agreed to contribute $500 toward the enterprise.  Then the Governor came in with a contribution of $500 from the contingent fund and private subscriptions have been received in excess of $1000.”

“No decision had been arrived at concerning the availability of the county prisoners, however.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)  (The practice in Hawai‘i and elsewhere was to use prison labor for public works projects, including road building.)

(Later Territorial law stated, “All prisoners sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor shall be constantly employed for the public benefit, on public roads or other public works or other wise, as the high sheriff, with the approval and subject to the control of the board of prison directors, may deem best.”)

Then the military offered aid in the form of a “tentative proposition that, if transportation was furnished from Honolulu to Hilo and return, Company E of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, consisting of between 140 and 150 men would volunteer to go to Volcano, and do the work of building the trail and erecting the rest houses without further expense to the promoters or enterprise.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)

Building the Buffalo Soldiers Trail (now called Mauna Loa Trail) from the 4,000-ft. summit of Kīlauea to the 13,677-ft. summit of Mauna Loa was no easy task. (NPS)

“The soldiers are constructing a trial three feet wide across the a-a, crushing it down with twelve pound hammers, filling in hollow, cutting down ridges and putting on a finish of fine a-a and earth, quarried along the line or parked in gunny sacks, carried on the men’s backs – in some places being carried as far as a quarter of a mile.”

“The Mauna Loa trail and rest house project is making steady and substantial progress. It must be remembered that it is through a section of territory never before inspected, much less traveled over, except the lower portion thereof, and that only by a few surveyors, cattle men and catchers of wild goats.”

“No one wants to run away with the idea that the job which the men of Company E of the Twenty-fifth Infantry have volunteered to do is all picnic. They are having a picnic all right; but incidentally they are doing a lot of good hard work in a pure pro bono publico spirit.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 11, 1915)

The Buffalo Soldiers built the 18-mile trail to the summit of Mauna Loa. They also built the ten-man Red Hill Cabin and a twelve-horse stable, so scientists could spend extended periods of time studying the volcano.

“[D]uring the period of 1915 to 1921, the trail was managed and maintained by a loose consortium consisting of Hawaii Volcano Research Association, Lorrin Thurston, Hilo businessmen, and Thomas Jaggar, then it was managed by the National Park Service.” (Tuggle)

Between 1930 and 1932, the National Park carried out major improvements and realignments of the Mauna Loa Trail to fall completely within the park boundary. Over the past century, the evolving needs of the National Park and changes in available

technology have resulted in ongoing modifications to the physical footprint of the trail.

The uppermost portion of the original trail footprint has been nearly obliterated since the 1970s by a series of large lava flows in 1975, 1984, and 1985. (Tuggle)  (The inspiration and sources to information here came primarily from a study by Myra Tomonari-Tuggle.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Suiter Field

In 1779, Captain Cook explored the North Kohala area and noted:  “The country, as far as the eye could reach, seemed fruitful and well inhabited … (3 to 4-miles inland, plantations of taro and potatoes and wauke are) neatly set out in rows.”

“The walls that separate them are made of the loose burnt stone, which are got in clearing the ground; and being entirely concealed by sugar-canes planted close on each side, make the most beautiful fences that can be conceived …”  (Cook Journal)

Fast forward 150-years to a property in this area within two traditional Hawaiian ahupuaʻa (land divisions.) The eastern half of the property is located within the ahupuaʻa of Kealahewa (wrong way) and the western half is located within the ahupuaʻa of Opihipau (opihi (limpets) all gone.)  The property was used by the Hawi Mill and Plantation Company in its sugar operations.

Later, on June 25, 1927, an Executive Order set aside nearly 38-acres of the property for an airplane landing field for the US Air Service to be under the management and control of the War Department.

The airfield is about three miles northwest of the town of Hawi on the northern tip of the coast of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.  In 1933, the Army named it Suiter Field, in honor of 1st Lieutenant Wilbur C Suiter who was killed in action serving in 135th Aero Squadron.

Suiter was posthumously issued the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star Citation for extraordinary heroism in action.  He and his observer (Guy E Morse) fearlessly volunteered for the perilous mission of locating the enemy’s advance unit in the rear of the Hindenburg line.

Disregarding the hail of machine gun fire and bursting anti-aircraft shell, they invaded the enemy territory at a low altitude and accomplished his mission, securing information of the greatest importance.

They at once returned to the lines and undertook another reconnaissance mission, from which they failed to return.  (Morse Field, the military’s air field that was once at South Point was named after 2nd Lieutenant Guy E Morse.)

Suiter Field was first licensed in 1928.  It was also alternatively referred to as Upolu Point Military Reservation, Upolu Landing Field, Upolu Airplane Landing Field and Upolu Airport.

In the early days of aviation in Hawaiʻi, the US Signal Corps maintained a communication station at Suiter Field.  Inter-Island Airways (later known as Hawaiian Air,) which began passenger service in 1929, used the field as an emergency stop on its route to Hilo, as well as to provide air service to the district of Kohala.

On June 26, 1929, Governor’s Executive Order No. 363 added 57-acres to Upolu Airplane Landing Field to be under the control and management of the War Department.  Shortly thereafter, December 16, 1929, the Territorial Aeronautics Commission sought to have the property returned to the Territory for the Upolu aeroplane landing field.

In January 1930, the War Department granted the Territory concurrent use of the Army landing field for official and commercial aviation use.  Within 7-months later, about 97-percent of the land was restored to the Territory.  A couple of months later, about 95 acres were dedicated to establish the Upolu Airport under control of the Territory.

Upolu field was grass on a sandy soil and partially graded.  The Army maintained a barracks and radio station at the field on Federal property. The Upolu Point Airport consisted of one large runway in the shape of an hour glass 3,500 feet long.

Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a contract had been let and work was ready to start on the new airport – the war stopped that.

During World War II, the Navy occupied Upolu Airport establishing a weather and communication station there.  The facility was used as an auxiliary field to the Naval Air Station, Hilo, for field-carrier-landing practice and other training of carrier pilots.

The Upolu Point Military Reservation included facilities for naval purposes and for the operation and maintenance of military airplanes and airships. These facilities included a 150-foot-wide by 4,000-foot long surfaced runway, an aircraft parking area, a catapult deck, administration buildings, personnel quarters and a bunch of support buildings.

A simulated deck of an aircraft carrier was installed and air-group pilots completed their training by qualifying in day and night deck landings before going aboard the carriers for combat duty.  From July 1944 to May 1947 the facility was used exclusively for naval and other military purposes.

Upolu Airport was returned to the Territory after the war, and air service was provided by scheduled and non-scheduled operators.  Buildings formerly occupied by the Navy were rehabilitated for use as a terminal and for other purposes.

It was used for a time by Inter-Island Airways, Ltd. for small Sikorsky amphibians, but could not be used for large aircraft.  A 1946 Master Plan for Upolu included a 4,000 foot by 150 foot runway.  By 1948, the paved runway was 4,000 feet in length and Upolu was the only airport in that part of the island which met the requirements for scheduled airline operation.

Hawaiian Airlines was the principal user of the airport and made one stop a day en route from Honolulu to Hilo, and one stop en route from Hilo to Honolulu.

A new Master Plan was completed in March 1999. The airfield included a single runway (7-25), taxiway and an aircraft parking apron.  Runway 7-25 was 3,800 feet long and 75 feet wide and aligned in an east-northeast to west-southwest direction.

There has been no scheduled commuter service at the airport since 1986.  There are no cargo facilities at Upolu Airport, no control tower, and no aircraft rescue and firefighting facilities (nor fuel storage facility.)  There are only infrequent aircraft at Upolu Airport; airport management is under the Kona International Airport manager.  (Lots of info here from hawaii-gov.)

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