Did you know the airfield Enola Gay and Bockscar took off from is getting a major facelift?
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North Field on Tinian in 1945, before the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(Photo: public domain)
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The small Pacific island of Tinian, prized for its strategic location in World War II, was captured from the Japanese in the summer of 1944. Two small-scale Japanese airfields, named West and North Field, were quickly expanded and used as the launching point for bombing raids over the Japanese Home Islands. North Field was the largest airfield in the world at the time of its completion, and was the place from where the B-29 Superfortresses Enola Gay and Bockscar took off to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. North Field was abandoned after the war, but is set to undergo major renovation in the very near future.
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The remains of North Field in 2008
(Photo: Nztourist / Wikipedia)
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The runways had been grown over by the jungle, but parts of North Field had been already cleared up as part of two training exercises in 2003 and 2013. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) had recently announced a major renovation project to reclaim the rest of North Field from the jungle and restore it serviceable condition over the coming months.
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U.S. forces camped on the decaying tarmac on Tinian during a 2020 airpower drill
(Photo: Stars and Stripes)
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The reconstruction, which is accompanied by a similar renovation of numerous other abandoned World War II airfields in the Pacific, is a part of the United States’ overarching strategy to confront and contain China’s increasingly aggressive attempts to spread its control over the Indo-Pacific region. Once operational, these old airfields could be used to disperse USAF warplanes over the region to protect them against long-range missile attacks in a hypothetical future war.
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Japanese airmen and a USAF C-130 Super Hercules on Tinian in 2020
(Photo: Stars and Stripes)
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Save $500 with our Battle of the Bulge promotion
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American soldiers in a foxhole in January 1945
(Photo: U.S. Army, Tony Vaccaro)
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Get a discount of $500 on all our available tours by booking and paying in full by January 25, 2024. Note that this offer applies only in case of new bookings, and it cannot be combined with other special promotions. If you have any questions related to this promotion or our tours, please contact our travel consultants at info@beachesofnormandy.com or by calling our toll-free number: +1 855-473-1999.
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