Honiara International Airport VMSB-241 who was the first Marine aviator killed in action at the Battle of Midway while leading his squadron in an attack against Japanese carrier forces. The field was abandoned after the war, but reopened in 1969 as a modernized civilian airport. The airport is capable of accommodating Boeing 737s. Honiara International Airport Honiara International Airport , formerly known as Henderson Field, is an airport on Guadalcanal Island in the nation of Solomon Islands. It is the only international airport in the country and is located from the capital Honiara. In 1942 the airfield was under construction by the Imperial
Honiara in Nomasu Nakaguma's infantry battalions as they tried to approach the Marine lines. Both sides incurred heavy losses during the events of the overall battle, especially the Japanese attackers. After an attempt to deliver further reinforcements failed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942, Japan conceded defeat in the struggle for the island and evacuated many of its remaining forces by the first week of February 1943. The Quonset hut built by the Americans can still be seen in the back lanes of the town and numerous memorials give testament to the war. Honiara officially became the capital