Talk:Central Field (Iwo Jima)

Bonin Islands
Iwo Jima is located in the Volcano Islands, not the Bonin Islands.

This is not North Field; it is Central Field
This is from a post I have made to "The Pacific War: The U.S. Navy" web site at: http://microworks.net/pacific/

The Japanese had built three airfields, Motoyama Number 1, 2 and 3 or simply, South, Central and North fields, on the central plain of the island. South Field (Motoyama Number 1) had two runways, the north-south runway was 5,025-feet (1,532-meters) and the east-northeast to west-southwest runway was 3,965-feet (1,209-meters) long. Central Field had two runways, the east-northeast to west-southwest runway was 5,225 and the east-west runway was 4,425-feet (1,593-meters and 1,349-meters), built in the form of an X. Motoyama Number 3, with a single east-northeast to west-southwest runway, never became operational.

At South Field (24°45' 46"N, 141°18' 13"E), the east-northeast to west-southwest runway was being used by observation planes as early as 26 February (D plus 7), and by 2 March the runway had been graded to 4,000-feet (1,219-meters). On 9 March, this airfield paid its first dividend when a B-29 in distress came in for an emergency landing. Two days later the P-51 Mustangs came up from Saipan, and from then on, South Field was in constant use while construction was continued. On 7 April 1945, P-51s took off from South Field to form the first land-based fighter escort for B-29s on a strike against the Japanese homeland. By July, the runway had been extended to 6,000-by-200-feet (1,829-by-61-meters) and had been surfaced with emulsified asphalt. Also constructed were 7,950-feet (2,423-meters) of taxiways and 258 hardstands. This field could accommodate 100 P-51s and 30 B-24 Liberators. In an emergency, B-29s could land here. This field is now abandoned.

Although work at Central Field (24°47' 05"N, 141°19' 27"E) was held up by the protracted land battle, on 16 March it too was operational, with the east-northeast to west-southwest runway graded to 5,200-feet (1,585-meters) and the east-west runway to 4,800-feet (1,463-meters). A second runway parallel to the east-northeast to west-southwest runway was also built; both were built to accommodate B-29s. By 7 July 1945, the first B-29 runway had been paved to 8,500 feet (2,591-meters) and placed in operation. During the day, 102 B-29s, returning from a raid on Japan, landed on the field. Several sub-grade failures occurred in the construction because of ground water and soft spots in the sub-grade. In some places the paving sealed off steam which had been generated below the surface and when the steam condensed, the sub-grade became saturated. By 12 July, the B-29 runway had been completed and paved for a length of 9,800-by-200-feet (2,987-by-61-meters). The parallel runway was eventually lengthened to 9,400-feet (2,865-meters), both with a width of 200-feet (61-meters). The east-west runway built by the Japanese was developed into a fueling strip, 6,000-by-570-feet (1,829-by-174-meters), with 60 fueling outlets. For normal operations, this field could accommodate 120 P-51s and 30 B-24s and 20 B-29s. Today, Central Field is named Iwo Jima Airbase and is operated by the Japanese Self-Defenses Forces.

Virtually the entire job at North Field (24º47' 43"N, 141º19' 20"E) was new construction in rough terrain which consisted principally of consolidated volcanic ash. The initial portion of the work in preparing the sub-grade for the runway entailed the moving of about 200,000-cubic-yards (152,911-cubic-meters) of rock and volcanic ash. Seabee construction was stopped on 27 April and the project was turned over to a USAAF aviation engineer battalion for completion. By V-J day a runway 6,000-feet (1,829-meters) long, had been graded and was paved to 5,500-feet (1,676-meters); 10,000-feet (3,048-meters) of taxiways had been graded; and 129 fighter hardstands provided. This field could normally accommodate 50 P-51s and 14 B-24s (and eight B-29s in an emergency). North Field was abandoned after the war.

Source required October 2021
User:Mcb133aco you need to provide a source for this edit you made: otherwise it will be deleted. Mztourist (talk) 06:44, 20 October 2021 (UTC)