Yontan Airfield (also known as Yomitan Auxiliary Airfield) is a former military airfield located near Yomitan Village on the west coast of Okinawa. It was closed in July 1996 and turned over to the Japanese government in December 2006. Today it is home to the Yomitan Village Office and community complex, including baseball fields, running tracks, and community facilities. Yontan (Yomitan) Airfield was originally established by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1944 as . During the Battle of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces seized the airfield on the first day of their landing. It was quickly repaired and became the first airfield on Okinawa to be used by the American forces. Later it was developed into a major American base for Army, Marine, and Navy aircraft. The Boeing B-29 Bockscar landed at Yomitan after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Postwar use After 1947, there were no units permanently assigned to Yontan and the base was used as an auxiliary installation for Kadena Air Base until the mid-1950s. Later it was placed in auxiliary reserve status. In June 1948, the 170th Airway and Air Communications Service (AACS) Squadron was activated at Yontan to provide air traffic control and communications support for USAF units in Okinawa. Shortly after, the 170th was redesignated as the 1962d AACS Squadron. The unit moved to Kadena AB and redesignated as 1962d AACS Group (later, Communications Group) on 18 February 1955. By 1950, Yontan was redesignated as a parachute drop training facility because its runways were not suitable for large scale or jet aircraft operations. By that time, local residents were started farming at the airfield with the tacit permission of the Air Force, and there were no fences installed on the base boundaries, except in administrative area. 33 serious off-range drop accidents occurred, including the death of a girl on 2 August 1950 when a fuel tank fell into private house, and an 11 June 1965 accident in which a trailer landed off target crushing a 10-year-old girl who was playing in the family yard. After the Okinawa reversion in 1972, the Japanese Government continued to make Yomitan Auxiliary Airfield (FAC 6027) available for USFJ requirements. Under the agreement of the 16th U.S.–Japan Security Consultative Committee in 1976, 250.78 acres of land at eastern portions of the airfield were partially returned to the Japanese Government in three