Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

Our aviation engineers had to fight the Japs, dodge artillery fire
and withstand strafing attacks to construct airbases on Saipan
rehabilitation of captured airbuses were their only problem,
life would have been easy for them,
Unfortunately, Jap airficlds arc rarely suitable for our type
of operations, Not only must bomb damage be repaired, but
also existing facilities must be adapted to our requirements,
Then, to accommodate the increasingly heavier and more
intensive land-based air operations in the Central Pacific, the
aviation engineers must make two or three airfields grow
where the Japs had planted but one.
Aslito airfield on Saip.m is an example. Although it was
planned in advance that Aslito should be a bomber base for
our operations, the first job was to put it in shape for the
immediate usc of land-based fighter planes, especially the
fast-landing, heavy Thunderbolts that had done yeoman
service in the original assault as bombers, strufcrs and rocketfiring
hellions.
'1'0 make Aslito reasonably adequate meant filling in some
600 holes, ranging in size from small ruts to gaping bomb
craters. That was accomplished in the first week. From
adequate to safe meant tacking an additional strip of run-
\yay with shoulders on each side to the 3,900-foot Jap strip.
This operation involved moying 10,000 cubic yards of dirt.
The job was finished in four days.
Next came the building of a mile-long B-24 runwav. Some
66,000 cubic yards of earth were excavated, 27.000 cubic
yards were fill~d in, and 80,000 cubic yards of coral topping
were transposed to finish the job.
Ingenuity plus hard work is the formula used by the aviation
engineers. "'hen they found that 24-hour shifts and
their own excellent equipment weren't enough, they adapted
to their usc what the Japs had left behind, sah-aging machine
and hand tools, generators, pumps, lumber, rolling
stock, wiring and pipes. Jap pumps drove salt water to wet
down the rulllyays. [up generators provided lights for the
tents. An old [ap concrete mixer was turned into a washing
machine, running obligingly on captured Jap gas.
Aslito was an example of adaptation of known requirements
to existing conditions with whatever compromises were
necessary. Lt. Co!. l Iurry A. Ilull, 33-year old conunundiug
officer of one of the battalions, summed it up as foIl0\1'5:
"If we know the number and general type of the planes
to be accommodated, we know pretty well what sort of field
to build. 'Ve know the ruuwuv should be headed into the
prevailing wind and that approaches to the runway at either
end should be as clear as possible. \Ve know that we should
have a reasonably IeITI site-just how level the site will be
dependent upon how much time we have to build the strip.
"If it's a rush joh, we cau't he cutting down hills and
filling up ravines. We find the site that seems best suited
to the requirements. If we head the rtmlyay directly into
the pre\ailing wiurl, there may be a hill that the planes can't
clear on a take-off. Or it mal' be a hill in the wav of landings.
So we s\ying the ruuwnv a little away from the prevailing
wind. That's not a perfect lineup for a rumyay, but
planes can come in and get off-and that's the important
thing. If the requirements can be adapted to the conditions,
\IT go in with sUflT:ors. The bulldozers come right behind
the transit. The suryeyor looks through his transit, turns to
the man on the 'dozer, and sal'S, 'Plow ahead.' \Ve build
the field as we arc planning am( laying it out."
Thirty days after the engineers landed, Aslito was handling
what was probably the greatest volume of Army, Navv
and I\larine air traffic in the Central Pacific. Hundreds of
take-offs and landings cI'ery day: 7th Air Force Thunderbolts
to bomb, strafe and vent their rockets on Tinian, Rota,
Pagan and other Jap targcts; 7th Air Force and Nal'y bombers
to paste the then unconquered Guam and more distant
installations; 1\ larinc cubs to spot artillery fire; 7th Air Force
photo-reconnaissance planes streaking away after their pictures;
transient bombers, cargo and transport planes.
Adaptation of existing airfields is not always feasible, and
the aviation engineers often have to start from scratch. At
Saipan, the intention was to usc a Japanese strip on the west
coast of the island for a fighter field. However, an inspection
showed that the strip was not suitable for our operations, so
a new site "as selected on an elevated tableland overlooking
1\ L1gaciennc Bay.
The advance party of the aviation engineer battalion assigned
to build the fighter strip began preliminary sUfl'eys to
the rattle of machine gullS. At night, they were able to read
frOI11the light of American and Japanese flares. The rcm.undcr
of the battalion arrived a few clays later with eOI11-