Eareckson Air Station , formerly Shemya Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force military airport located on the island of Shemya, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. The airport was closed as an active Air Force Station on 1 July 1994. However, it is still owned by the USAF and is operated by the USAF 611th Air Support Squadron at Elmendorf AFB for refueling purposes. It also serves as a diversion airport for civilian aircraft. The base previously hosted the AN/FPS-17 and AN/FPS-80 radars and since 1977 the more powerful AN/FPS-108 COBRA DANE phased-array radar. Overview Eareckson Air Station is located on the western tip of Alaska's Aleutian islands near the larger island of Attu, lying approximately 1500 miles southwest of Anchorage. The airport lies on the south side of the 2-mile by 4-mile island and is 98 feet above mean sea level. Shemya Island has been the scene of two major earthquakes. The 1965 Rat Islands earthquake, measuring 8.7 on the moment magnitude scale, occurred on 3 February. It was followed by severe aftershocks and a tsunami, but damage was limited to cracks in the taxiways. The 1975 Near Islands earthquake, measuring 7.6 (surface wave magnitude), occurred on 1 February. A high degree of damage occurred to the runways and hangars and communications were disrupted for a short time. Eareckson Air Station has one runway: Runway 10/28: , surface: asphalt/grooved, 28 is ILS equipped. The island has many abandoned taxiways, aircraft revetments and two other runways on the west side of the island. All of these World War II facilities are abandoned and non-operational. There are also an NDB, TACAN and VOR on the island. William O. Eareckson On 6 April 1993, Shemya Air Force Base was renamed Eareckson Air Station after Colonel William O. Eareckson (1900–1966). The renaming was initiated by the Eleventh Air Force Association to honor their wartime commander. From 1941 to 1943, Eareckson personally led all of the difficult missions against the Japanese which were located on two other Aleutian Islands, Kiska and Attu. Eareckson also helped plan the successful retaking of Attu. During the bombing campaigns, he introduced low-level skip bombing and forward air control procedures long before they became common practices in other war theaters. History World War II On 28 May 1943, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the