When did we leave Midway? I was on a plane that landed there in 1973. We also landed at Wake Island. Both of them were nail biters.
Then again, maybe I was drunk.
In 1978, the Navy downgraded Midway from a Naval Air Station to a Naval Air Facility and large numbers of personnel and dependents began leaving the island. With the war in Vietnam over, and with the introduction of reconnaissance satellites and nuclear submarines, Midway’s significance to U.S. national security was diminished. The World War II facilities at Sand and Eastern Islands were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 28, 1987 and were simultaneously added as a National Historic Landmark.[11]
As part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, the Navy facility on Midway has been operationally closed since September 10, 1993, although the Navy assumed responsibility for cleaning up environmental contamination at Naval Air Facility Midway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Atoll
Midway was part of the 93 base closure. The military’s still on Wake.
I remember landing on Wake in `70.
Out the window it looked like a runway
surrounded by water.
You could see masts from ships sticking up in the water.
I was flying into Midway and Wake into the middle 60's. I think they began to shut them down soon after Vietnam as the a/c transiting the Pacific became more and more jet types. They are still aux. fields but rarely ever used. Outsiders can come only with prior permission or as in this case an emergency. Midway's Gooney Bird population was a hoot!Another boon docker was Marcus Island about 1/2 way between Midway and Tokyo. That was one desolate and tight squeeze.
Did both of those ,Johnson islands was the worst I ever had pilot almost overshot .had the seat belt marks for almost a week after that landing.It was like landing on an aircraft carrier.