US Air Force to revive WWII airfield that launched atomic bombings of Japan
The US Air Force is planning to return to service the North Airfield on the Pacific island of Tinian, a strategic move in the face of potential hostilities with China. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the Pacific Air Forces, spoke to Nikkei Asia about the airfield. He said it will become an extensive facility once the recovery work is complete. The Air Force is also adding facilities at Tinian International Airport.
Tinian is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with a population of only about 3,000 people. During World War II, the island, along with Saipan and Guam, hosted B-29 Superfortress bombers that wreaked destruction on the Japanese homeland.
North Field on Tinian became the largest and busiest airport in the world during the relentless bombing of Japan in 1945. It sealed its place in history on August 6, 1945, when the B-29 Enola Gay took off with the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima, killing 70,000 people and ushering the world into the nuclear age. Three days later, another B-29, named Bockscar, dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 46,000 people.
The Air Force’s fiscal year 2024 budget request shows $78 million has been requested for construction projects on Tinian Island. The recovery project is part of the US military’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) strategy to complicate adversary planning and provide more options to commanders. As China builds up its missile forces, the Air Force is seeking to disperse its fleet to make it harder to attack.
“You create an aiming problem,” Wilsbach told Nikkei, explaining the move. “And you may take some hits, but you still have the preponderance of your forces creating effect,” he added. The Air Force has already been practicing the ACE concept on Tinian, including operating F-22 stealth fighters from its international airport during the Agile Reaper exercise in March.