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

plctc equipment and the healy work
was started, Thcv drove some 90 trucks
and jeeps and SO pieces of hCI\Y equipmcut
such as bulldozers, graders, shOlds
and rollers over seven miles of torn up,
,,'indiug roads clogged with .uuuiunition
and supply caravans hound for the front
and .uubul.mccs headed for the rc.ir.
Slow mo'ing cats and 'dozers of the
engincers would luin bcr forward for a
few minutes, then pull off the road to
let faster InO\ing traffic go through.
J\lc~mlvhile work Il'as under wav in
the level canefie]ds cO\ering the 'site.
Bulldozers worked onlv a few feet hehind
the suncyors, c1~aring thc c.mc,
knocking down scattered Jap shacks and
uprooting the lines of a small lap r.nlroad.
The entire area Il'as littered with
duel shells, uncxplodrd greu~ldes and
fuzed .utillcrv .uu m u nit iou .
Actual eOlistruction begau on [ulv 2.
I, ourtccn eLin later a made-to-order
figh ter run ",iy \\as rc.idv. Duri ug th.i t
period about ')0,000 cubic yards of
earth and coral had been moved. '-!aehinery
h.id put in I,SOO operational
hours, fi~uri 11[; 20 hours per mach inc
per eLII', with onlv fom hours l(ht
th rough rep,1 ir .mcl iuui n tcuu nee,
But runwavs. h owcvcr cxr-cllcut. hurdlv
make an 'airiJase operational. There
arc do/,eIlS of "accessories" th.ir the aliation
engineers know onlv too well because
thcv h~II"(' to bui]d thcin. On
Saipan these included an emergell(V
"reach' .iv gas s~'stelll" of large tank's
wi th d rum d ulllpi lIg sblnd .ind OI'erhead
dispenser. i\ "rc.idv av gas xv-f cru" is a
series of gasoline storage tanks at the
edge of a ruuw.tv where gas is pumpcrl
into t.mk trucks which in turn scrvic«:
the planes, Other bsks included the
reconstruction of ,I [up deep \\'ell .md
the aeconljJall\'ing pUlllpS, and directing
the flow of water into a purification
plant; the erection of a tank for scrvicing
lap .iviat ion g~lsoline to Amor ir.m
trucks, and the construction of a control
tower and a bomb storage area.
\ Vh ile earning on their airfield construction
and reh~lbilitation work, the
engineers set up their (mn li\ing qmrters
in a tent are~l, built screened-in
kitchens and latrines, erected showers,
dug fo:\hoks, set np rqxlir shops and
maintained all eljuipment, In addition,
the engincers sen-cd regular guard dUh'
and performed KP and other routine
jobs. A 11\' free hours squee/,ed out of
their sehed uk \\'ere spellt in such reb:\ing
activities as building \\~Ishing
m;lchines.
The stor~' of AAF a\'i~ltion cngineers
on Saipan is morc or less the ston' behind
all of our operational bases through
the Pacific. It is one of the man\' storics
behind the headlines hcraldi"ng our
;Jerial assault toward Tokyo. *
40
Better to Ditch
,\ n,li was in sight of its home: island
when t hc g;lsolinc g;lngc on thc last t.mk
flickercd to cmprv. 'lh« pilot ordered the
crc-v to h.ril out. .ind hr: .md the copilot
~,L1\cd wit l: thc plane .u«l ditched f.urlv close
1