Pingtung Airfield (Pingtung Air Force Base)

Pingtung Airfield (Japanese: 屏東飛行場, also known as Heito Airfield) was the first purpose-built airfield in Taiwan and one of the principal Imperial Japanese Army aviation facilities on the island. Located on the Pingtung Plain in Takao Prefecture (now Pingtung City, Pingtung County), it played a pivotal role in Japan's military aviation presence in colonial Taiwan for over two decades.

The airfield was formally inaugurated on November 21, 1920, making it the earliest airfield in Takao Prefecture and the first significant aviation facility in Taiwan's history. Initially, it was operated by the Police Aviation Unit (警察航空班) for "air policing" — using aircraft to surveil and govern indigenous peoples in Taiwan's mountainous interior regions that were difficult to access by land.

In 1927, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service 8th Air Regiment (陸軍飛行第八聯隊) was transferred from Tachiarai Airfield in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, to Pingtung. The regiment departed from Tachiarai to Moji Port, arriving at Keelung Port between May 26 and 31, then proceeding by rail to Pingtung. The unit officially commenced operations on February 19, 1928, with a ceremony featuring thirteen Type Otsu reconnaissance aircraft arranged in formation for inspection. This made Pingtung Taiwan's first true military airfield.

The facility consisted of two distinct fields. The southern field (Pingtung South) was built on grounds formerly used as a horse racing track, with hangars and depots concentrated on the northeastern side. The northern field (Pingtung North) was a simpler grass airstrip used primarily for fighter aircraft operations.

By 1935, a full Army field depot and barracks complex had been completed adjacent to the airfield. When Japan entered the Pacific War in December 1941, the depot was expanded into the 5th Field Repair Shop Pingtung Branch (第五野戰修理廠屏東分廠), capable of repairing and servicing combat aircraft. The base became a significant staging point for Japan's southward advance, supporting operations toward the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies.

The airfield also played a role during the Musha Incident (霧社事件) of 1930, when aircraft from Pingtung were deployed for reconnaissance and supply missions over the mountainous central Taiwan combat zone. During the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake, the base provided aerial survey and relief support.

As American forces closed in on the Japanese home islands in 1944-1945, Pingtung Airfield became a prime target for Allied bombing. On October 16, 1944, USAAF XX Bomber Command B-29 Superfortress bombers attacked the airfield along with secondary strikes on nearby rail yards and Takao (Kaohsiung) harbor. On January 9, 1945, aircraft from USS Ticonderoga — including 15 SB2C Helldiver dive bombers, 6 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, and 7 F6F Hellcat fighters — struck the base as a secondary target, losing one SB2C with its crew. On the night of January 12, 1945, a few B-24 Liberator bombers from the USAAF 5th Air Force (43rd and 90th Bombardment Groups) bombed the airfield, and on January 22 B-24s escorted by P-38s carried out what Pacific Wrecks describes as the first major Fifth Air Force strike on Formosa. The airfield remained a primary target for the 5th Air Force during the first months of 1945 in preparation for the April 1, 1945 landings on Okinawa, as American planners sought to neutralize Japanese air assets that could reinforce the garrison.

Near the end of the war, the Japanese military constructed defensive positions stretching from northern to southern Pingtung to prevent a potential American amphibious landing in southern Taiwan (Operation Causeway, ultimately cancelled). Ammunition storage facilities at the base supplied munitions to kamikaze pilots of the Imperial Japanese Army Special Attack Units.

After Japan's surrender in August 1945, the Republic of China took control. The northern field was paved with asphalt runways and from 2005 also served as the civilian Pingtung Airport until scheduled flights ended in 2011. The southern field became the military Pingtung South Air Force Base, home to the ROCAF 439th Combined Wing (later redesignated 6th Tactical Mixed Wing) operating P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and E-2K Hawkeye early warning aircraft. Pingtung North's longest runway is approximately 8,000 feet, while Pingtung South's is approximately 7,817 feet.