Diego Garcia Atoll Indian Ocean

Final approach into middle-of-nowhere runway squeezed onto tiny island of Diego Garcia ... a C-130 resupply mission in 1972. Diego is a tropical footprint shaped coral atoll in middle of Indian Ocean … 1,200 to 1,800 miles from any major landmasses. Geologically these atolls (ring shaped islands with central lagoons) trace their origins to sinking volcanic islands that have submerged … coral growth keeping pace at sea level with that process. Until early 1970’s Diego consisted largely  of coconut plantations. Since then it has been used primarily by US Navy for submarine support , and other communications based functions.