24 July 1944 – United States forces invade Japanese-held Tinian Island during the Pacific Campaign in World War II. Given the scale of combat operations in the Pacific Theater, this campaign might seem to hold relatively minor significance, but it proved to have ominous implications for humanity, since after successfully occupying Tinian, American engineers built North Field on the island. According to one historian, “North Field is probably the most historically significant airfield used by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was a Twentieth Air Force base for B-29 Superfortress operations against the Japanese Home Islands in 1944 and 1945. However, the airfield was also the base for the 509th Composite Group which flew the two Atomic Bomb missions against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which led to the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan on September 2, 1945, and the end of the Pacific War.” Below (left to right) – 1. U.S. Marines coming ashore on Tinian; 2. North Field was one of the busiest airfields in the world in July and August of 1945; 3. Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima; 4. Bock’s Car, the B-29 that dropped the “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki; 5. North Field was abandoned after World War II, and today it is a tourist attraction; 6. Runway Able as it appears today – crushed limestone and weeds. And yet this is arguably one of the most important airstrips on earth, since it is the runway from which both Enola Gay and Bock’s Car took off.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:51:27 +0000
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