Satellite Photos Show US Reclaiming World War II Airfield for China War

An overgrown airfield on a small island in the Pacific, once instrumental in America’s role in ending World War II, is being reclaimed by the U.S. Air Force as it prepares for a possible future fight with China.

The remote island of Tinian, which is less than 40 square miles, is one of three principal islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, a string of sparsely populated islets in the Western Pacific Ocean that make up the U.S.’s westernmost frontier, along with the major military hub of Guam some 100 miles to the south.

Tinian was known for its strategic value during the war. Due to its proximity to Tokyo—less than 1,500 miles—it later became a staging base to launch bomber attacks on mainland Japan. The island is a similar distance to China and other flashpoints in Asia, with a U.S. Defense Department plan costed at nearly half a billion dollars now preparing it to help the United States deter, or defeat, the Chinese military.

This photograph released by the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command shows American bombers parked at North Field on Tinian Island in 1945 U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command

After the Allies captured Tinian in 1944, the Navy immediately began constructing what was then the world’s largest air base, building over existing airstrips for smaller Japanese fighter planes. North Field alone had four 8,500-foot runways and hardstands that supported up to 265 B-29 Superfortress bombers.

In August 1945, North Field launched the two bombers that carried out the first and only wartime use of nuclear weapons in human history. The dropping of atomic bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” on Japan effectively ended the war and spared American troops from a bloody and costly invasion of the Japanese mainland to force the empire’s surrender.

The island’s two airfields met different fates after the war. West Field, which was built with two parallel runways in the southwest, became part of modern-day Tinian International Airport. North Field became a historic landmark. Now, more than half a century later, unused and in disrepair, North Field is being brought back to life under an Air Force operational concept called Agile Combat Employment, or ACE, which disperses units and capabilities into smaller groups.

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