Oahu airfield exploration

[groundpounder]

I am going to Oahu shortly and one of my adventures is going to include exploring some of the old airfields. I am planning on going to Ewa and Kahuku. Kahuku may be a bit difficult to access as it appears that there are a few private ventures on the former site. It looks like it may be possible to hike into the site from the beach side, starting at one of the golf courses. Ewa seems to be much more straight forward as far as access goes. I cannot see any impediments to exploration at this point, although one locked gate with a nasty local attached to it can ruin your day. But so far it all looks pretty accessible. I would like to check out the west loch area as well. No idea if that is accessible or not right now.

If anyone out there has been to any of these places and has some info or warnings to share, it sure would be appreciated ! And yes i will be going to ford island to check out Swamp Ghost ! Looking forward to hopefully sharing some cool stories and pics when i return in a month.

[Pat Carry]

Sounds very interesting. Keep us posted please!

[sandiego89]

First of all enjoy the trip! I have been to most of the old airfields on Oahu during a military assignment there 15 years ago including Dillingham, Bellows, Kahuku, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Ewa, Barbers Point, Ford, Wheeler, etc. I had base access as a military member, but base access may be a problem at still active bases. May be worse as a non-US citizen. You will want a rental car. You may want to look into any tours at Wheeler. Some thoughts:

Ford Island- a must, glad you have that scheduled.
Ewa- crumbling runways and a few revetments. Was very excited when I came accross the revetements while driving on an old strip. Should be able to get there with a rental car. Open access. Neat if you are a old airbase junkie. Others not so impressed. Can be hot and barren.
Wheeler- Fantastic historically- well preserved- you will recognize the hangars and ramp and feel like you are the set of Tora, Tora, Tora. See if you can get base acess via a visitor pass or tour.
Dillingham- active general aviation strip. If you can get to the soutern reventements, very neat.
Kahuku- Not much left. A few buildings that are obviously ex-airfield, but in use for farming. Runway not much left. Private property. Trespassing concerns. Avoid. Long drive to the northern tip.
Hickam- well preserved. Base access issues.
Bellows- Neat old runways. Very much gives you the feeling of being on a south pacific coral strip. Base access concerns. Worth it if you can get base access. Long drive to the eastern side, but worth it.

It all depends on what you want to see. If you like exploring and feeling you are at some secret forgotten spot, Ewa and Bellows did that for me. For historical purposes and to see things as they were Ford Island and Wheeler are the spots.

West Lock likely closed to visitors.

[wendovertom]

I went to school down the road from Kahuku. I would check in with the wildlife preserve folks, if you can find someone, and they might be able to help you out. I would definately recommend asking around first - North Shore is an awesome area but it is considered "the country" and a little more "local". Read this as not very welcoming of tourists wandering around off the beaten path - in fact that is a good way to get into a sticky situation.

my .02,

Tom P.

[groundpounder]

Thanks for the tips !
We will be staying really close to bellows so i will try to find out about access regarding the G/P. As of right now i have no connections, so we'll just have to see how it pans out. We were up at Kahuku last year and figured out pretty quickly that it's a good place for a mainland tourist to avoid. I thought that one might be able to walk along the beach from turtle bay but it looks like a fairly private commercial area for the most part. I may have to make some adjustments to my trek...it looks like a long walk for not much. The Marconi building and the runway intersection are about all that is left but there are private structures and houses all around. Yeah..........(peter griffin) maybe not. Ewa is definitely in though. It seems amazing that not too many people are aware of its significance. http://www.december7.com/1941/Ewa_Today/ Hope that link works.

[jdvoss]

I trust you have access to Paul Freeman's abandoned airfield website. It's a great resource of then and now photos as well as outstanding descriptive verbiage. Note that on the portion for "Kipapa Army Air Field" there is overlap of the map that shows Wheeler Field. Interesting that Wheeler was one of FOUR separte airfields within the confines of that base!

If you have the time and of course $$$ you cn take a one day trip to Midway.

Have a good trip and feel free to submit any photos / information to Freeman that might enhance his outstanding website. Of course he always provides credit to the contributors.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/HI/Airfields_HI.htm

[David_Aiken]

FIRST:
NEVER hike alone...or with another tourist. Hike with someone who KNOWS what they are doing.
Hawaii is NOT the Rockies...when lost hike to the ridges...DO NOT follow a stream down the mountain as these lead to giant waterfalls with overgrown jungle which may take your weight for a while, but nothing may be under that canopy.

SECOND: when the previous poster said that areas are 'sticky'... He is speaking of the Mary-Ju-Wana Growers Association.

The Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club may be a good guide to current status of ridge trails that may have eroded in select areas. Nothing can spoil a trek than a ridge trail with a 1000 foot drop on one side and eroded footing. I have been on both of Oahu's mountain ranges and they are much more dangerous than the 14,000 foot 'walks in the park' in the Rocky Mountains.

As to airfields...none are better than the Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society. http://hiavps.com/

http://hiavps.com/Airfields%20of%20Hawaii.htm

Headed by Colin Perry, there are a host of highly experienced hikers that know Hawaii and love aviation within the HIAVPS....! Contact Colin at: colin@hiavps.org

[groundpounder]

Finally got onto ewa field today. Difficult to find the best way to get in there as you can see NOTHING from the road. Did a bunch of homework on google earth after wasting a couple of hours yesterday. I found an old timer at the railroad museum who was really helpful about finding the best way in but the road was barricaded with plastic blocks. Not knowing what was beyond them for sure i decided it was best to do some research via google earth and try again today. Much to the dismay of the little woman, i pushed the barricade aside enough to get the car through and we drove down an overgrown road out to the apron and runway. Very quiet and creepy out there. The entire area is extremely overgrown. We are talking not only grass and scrub but trees and thick bushes everywhere. It was quite amazing to look around and think about what had transpired at that very place so long ago. When i got out of the car to take some pictures it was a really strange feeling,there was no one around for miles but i definately felt some sort of feeling that is difficult to describe. We explored,or should i say,i explored around a little bit but i didnt want to push my luck so we got out of there fairly quickly. There really isnt a lot to see in the runway area but just being there was reward enough.

I am going back in a couple of days to find some of the concrete hangars that are hidden in the dense bush that is really a jungle more than anything. I have found them on google earth but if you didnt know where to look you would never be able to see them. This is a place that is truly forgotten. I spoke with some guys that worked at an equipment dealer which occupied one of the original buildings of the airfield and they had absolutely no idea that there was a wwII airfield right underneath them. Not a clue. I will post pics when i get home.

[cptsmith]

I was there a few years ago for a wreath laying ceremony on December 7. There is an overgrown hangar foundation and hardstand area where the parked aircraft were destroyed.