Check Six: Major Carlos Willard Bonham

A recent Retiree News post covered the history of the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. The post reported that for a short time, it was named Bonham Air Force Base and it had a Hawai‘i Air National Guard link. This is the rest of the story.

Barking Sands facility was named after Hawaii Air Guard’s Bonham

Maj. Carlos Willard Bonham

Bonham AFB, Hawaii

Maj. Bonham’s farewell ceremony

Pre-flight briefing, with Maj. Bonham in the front row

199th Fighter Squadron patch

click on photographs to enlarge

The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Barking Sands, Kauai was once named, Bonham Air Force Base (June 1, 1953), after Maj. Carlos Willard Bonham, 199th Fighter Squadron commander in the 1950s. World’s largest instrumented and multidimensional testing and training range was first used a private landing strip (1921) by the Kekaha Sugar Company. The U.S. military then took turns “owning” the particle. The Army took over in 1940 and the field went through the names of Mana Airport, Mana Airfield Military Reservation, Barking Sands Military Reservation and Kekaha Military Reservation. The Air Force took over in 1942 and it names were Barking Sands Military Reservation/Air Force Base, Bonham Air Field/Air Base/Air Force Base and lastly, Auxiliary Landing Field (ALF) Bonham. Pacific Missile Range Facility was officially commissioned in 1962 and transferred to the Navy in 1964.

Bonham, from Watertown, New York was born in 1919 and joined the Missouri National Guard in 1937. He entered the active U.S. Army during World War II in 1942, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1942. After graduation from Army Air Force Pilot Training in 1944, he served in the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation during World War II. Bonham was awarded the Air Medal in 1945.

He was discharged from active service in May 1948 and a moth later joined the 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawai‘i Air National Guard. His positions included flight leader, and operations officer finally commander in 1951. Bonham was killed June 15, 1952, in a midair collision while leading a flight of F-47 Thunderbolt “Jugs” fighters (HIANG’s first fighters) in acrobatics in-trail. The other pilot parachuted to safety in the sea between Barking Sands and Niihau Island.

Contributing editor Stephen Lum provided the article and the photographs for this Retiree News post.