Location
Located near the village of Sobe, north of Kadena Airfield on Okinawa western coast.

Construction
Built by Japanese.

American Capture
On April 1, 1945 US Army and Marine Corps captured the airfield the same day as the landing, it was quickly developed into a major American airfield and base for Army, Marine and Navy aircraft.

Don Huebner recalls:
"On the main airfield, Yontan, we had expected enormous amounts of casualties before capturing the important spot. We found one dead enemy soldier there who was chained to his machine gun. He had been ordered to stay at his gun till death and they weren't taking any chances of his not doing as told."

American Units Based on Yontan
(7th AF) 494th BG, 864th, 865th BS (B-24s) Angaur June 24, 1945 - ?
(7th AF) 494th BG, 866th & 867th BS (B-24s) Angaur June 24, 1945 - ?
Far East Air Force (FEAF)
494th BG, 373d BS (B-24s) from Luliang, China July 21, 1945 - ?
312th BG, 386th BS (B-32s ) from Floridablanca Aug 13, 1945 - ?
35th FG, 41st FS (P-51s) from Clark Field June 30 - Irumagawa Oct 10, 1945

1945

Captured Ohka Manned Rocket Propelled Bombs
American forces captured several MXY7 Ohka (rocket propelled suicide aircraft). Captured included Ohka I-13, Ohka I-18.

May 24, 1945

Japanese Commando Raid May 24, 1945
On the night of May 24, 1945 the Japanese launched a suicide commando raid against Yontan. Several bombers dropped sticks of bombs onto the base. Ki-21 Sally bombers of the 3rd Dokuritsu Chutai approached the base in the landing pattern and attempted to land at the airfield.

Several were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire and USMC night fighters. Only one aircraft, Ki-21 Tail Number 546 crash landed at the field. 8-10 soldiers conducted commando operations until all were killed. In all, they damaged or destroyed 32 aircraft and fuel stockpiles. One VPB-109 [Liberator?] was destroyed and another damaged beyond repair.

Bruce Porter recounts the attack in his book, Ace!
"Over a dozen Japanese giretsu commandos survived the suicide landing, and succeeded in destroying a large fuel dump (a total of 70,000 gallons) and planting magnetic grenades to aircraft on the flight line. Three F4U's, two PB4Y's and four transports were destroyed. In addition, 22 other F4U's, 3 F6F's, 2 B-24's and 2 transports were damaged.  Only three Americans died in the raid, 18 Marines wounded. Japanese losses were 69 pilots, aircrews and raiders."

Joseph Alexander, The Final Campaign Marines Victory on Okinawa
"Another bizarre Japanese suicide mission proved more effective. On the night of 24-25 May, a half-dozen transport planes loaded with Giretsu, Japanese commandos, approached the U.S. airbase at Yontan. Alert antiaircraft gunners flamed five. The surviving plane made a wheels-up belly landing on the air strip, discharging troops as she slid in sparks and flames along the surface. The commandos blew up eight U.S. planes, damaged twice as many more, set fire to 70,000 gallons of aviation gasoline, and generally created havoc throughout the night. Jittery aviation and security troops fired at shadows, injuring their own men more than the Japanese. It took 12 hours to hunt down and kill the last raider."