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Funafuti International Airport is an airport in Funafuti,〔 capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. Fiji Airways (trading as Fiji Link) operates three flights a week between Suva (originating from Nadi) and Funafuti with ATR 72-600 aircraft that have a capacity of 68 passengers and cargo. ==History== Funafuti Airport was built by a detachment of the 2nd Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) of the United States Navy in 1943 during World War II.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 date = )〕 The military airfield included an airstrip, control tower and facilities,〔 with a radio station at Tepuka, connected by cable to the airfield. The base headquarters buildings were at the present-day Teagai Apelu's residence, and a bunker is there to this day. The first offensive operation was launched on 20 April 1943 when 22 B-24 Liberator aircraft from 371 and 372 Bombardment Squadrons bombed Nauru. The next day the Japanese made a predawn raid on the strip at Funafuti that destroyed one B-24 and caused damage to five other planes. On 22 April, 12 B-24 aircraft bombed Tarawa. Marine Fighting Squadron 441 (VMF-441), flying the F4F Wildcat, operated from Funafuti from May to September 1943. The airfield became the headquarters of the United States Army Air Forces VII Bomber Command in November 1943, directing operations against Japanese forces on Tarawa and other bases in the Gilbert Islands. The USAAF stationed two B-24 Liberator heavy bomber groups, the 11th Wing and 30th Bombardment Groups on Funafuti in the implementation of Operation Galvanic, which lead to the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin in November 1943.〔 By the middle of 1944, as the fighting moved further north toward Japan, the Americans began to withdraw. By the time the Pacific War ended in 1945, nearly all of them, with their equipment, departed.〔〔Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.〕〔(www.pacificwrecks.com )〕 After the war, the military airfield was developed into a commercial airport. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Funafuti International Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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