Williams Field

Williams Field
IATA: QAW ICAO: NZWD
Summary
Airport type	Public
Location	McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Elevation AMSL	68 ft / 21 m
Coordinates	77°52′03″S 167°03′24″E / 77.86750°S 167.05667°E / -77.86750; 167.05667
Map
NZWD Location of airfield in Antarctica
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 07/25 10,000 3,048 Snow 15/33 10,000 3,048 Snow
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Williams Field or Willy Field (ICAO: NZWD) is a United States Antarctic Program airfield in Antarctica. Williams Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 8–10 ft of ice,^[3] floating over 550 meters (1,800 ft) of water.^[4] The airport, which is approximately seven miles from Ross Island, serves McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base. Until the 2009–10 summer season, Williams was the major airfield for on-continent aircraft operations in Antarctica.

Williams Field is named in honor of Richard T. Williams, a United States Navy equipment operator who drowned when his D-8 tractor broke through the ice on January 6, 1956. Williams and other personnel were participants in the first Operation Deep Freeze, a U.S. military mission to build a permanent science research station at McMurdo Station in anticipation of the International Geophysical Year 1957–58.