Osan Air Base is one of two major airfields the U.S.operates from in Korea and the only U.S. Air Force facility in the Republic of Korea built from scratch during the Korean War. The base is located 4.7 miles southwest of the town of Osan, for which it is named, and 40 miles south of Seoul, the capital city. Prior to the invasion of South Korea by the North Korean communists in 1950, the area consisted of several tiny farming villages near the hillsides and a large number of rice paddy areas where the runway now is. A large Gingko Tree marked the village square of one of these villages and still stands on a hill in the base golf course. Click here for more Osan History.