ON TOPIC- Question about WWII-era airbase runway...

[Thomas J. Paladino Jr.]

A while ago, I remember seeing an overhead color photo of an airbase, I
believe in the pacific theatre, which had a very odd shape. There were
apparantly no actual runways, but rather a huge tarmac circle. I would
assume that the reason for this would be to allow an aircraft to take off &
land regardless of the wind direction, although it requires a huge amount of
space (and pavement).

Does anyone have any more information on this? Did I see this base
correctly, or was there more to it? Anyone know which base this could have
been, or if the 'circle runway' was common?

Thanks!

[John]

"Thomas J. Paladino Jr." wrote:

> A while ago, I remember seeing an overhead color photo of an airbase, I
> believe in the pacific theatre, which had a very odd shape. There were
> apparantly no actual runways, but rather a huge tarmac circle. I would
> assume that the reason for this would be to allow an aircraft to take off &
> land regardless of the wind direction, although it requires a huge amount of
> space (and pavement).
>
> Does anyone have any more information on this? Did I see this base
> correctly, or was there more to it? Anyone know which base this could have
> been, or if the 'circle runway' was common?
>
> Thanks!

no longer common , but not unknown
check out the Converse & Galveston airports in Indiana

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/IN/Airfields_IN_N.htm

and the Francis airfield in Florida

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/FL/Airfields_FL_JaxS.htm#francis

[Cub Driver]

>Anyone know which base this could have
>been, or if the 'circle runway' was common?

More often the "runway" was simply a square field. Typically you had a
pole in the middle of it, with a windsock hanging from it. You simply
landed into the wind, on any heading out of 360.

Wu Chia Ba airport in Kunming was of this design when it was first
built. Later, specific runways became the rule.

It's not something I associate with WWII, but with the inter-war
period or even earlier. Once runways had to be hardened and lengthened
for big bombers, the USAAC design of three runways in an overlapping
triangle (or an A with an enlongated crossbar) became the rule. This
was the layout of Mingaladon airport in Rangoon, for exampe:

http://www.warbirdforum.com/minglado.htm


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

[Kevin Brooks]

"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
>
> >Anyone know which base this could have
> >been, or if the 'circle runway' was common?
>
> More often the "runway" was simply a square field. Typically you had a
> pole in the middle of it, with a windsock hanging from it. You simply
> landed into the wind, on any heading out of 360.
>
> Wu Chia Ba airport in Kunming was of this design when it was first
> built. Later, specific runways became the rule.
>
> It's not something I associate with WWII, but with the inter-war
> period or even earlier. Once runways had to be hardened and lengthened
> for big bombers, the USAAC design of three runways in an overlapping
> triangle (or an A with an enlongated crossbar) became the rule. This
> was the layout of Mingaladon airport in Rangoon, for exampe:
>
> http://www.warbirdforum.com/minglado.htm
>

Your posit sounds much more plausible than that of large square or circular
airfields with hard-surface runways being built during WWII. Engineer units,
be they the AAF's aviation engineer battalions or the Seabee battalions,
were to thinly stretched and usually time/materiel constrained to undertake
such excessive efforts during the war, when the mantra was, "Make it just
good enough to perform its mission for the specified time period, no
better."

Brooks

>
> all the best -- Dan Ford
> email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)
>
> The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
> The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
> Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org