High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Wake Island Airfield (IATA: AWK, ICAO: PWAK) is a military airport located on Wake Island, which is known for the Battle of Wake Island. It is owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by the Thirteenth Air Force servicing practically only to military purposes within the Wake Island region, yet little military presence is currently encountered. It can be used for emergency landings of transpacific airliners.The first intentions on building an airbase began in 1935, when Pan American Airways selected Wake Island as a useful intermediate base for their routes to the Far East, especially the Philippines. A year before jurisdiction over Wake Island was passed to the Navy Department, which cooperated with PAA with updating topographical surveys due to the potential military value of having a suitable airbase near the USSR eastern border.