Runway Able is part of North Field on Tinian Island in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was the jumping off point for Enola Gay when she went to Hiroshima with Little Boy, the first ever nuclear bomb to be used. It was also the take off point for the attack on Nagasaki using Fat Man in August 1945. They led to the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan on September 2, 1945, and the end of the Pacific War. Fat Man rode with Major Charles Sweeney in Bockscar, a B-29 bomber. More and better details are at the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombing raid on Nagasaki had the third highest fatality rate in World War II after the nuclear strike on Hiroshima and the March 9/10 1945 fire bombing raid on Tokyo. More information is at http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/ & http://www.abomb1.org/
Little Boy's Loading Pit
Runway Able
Fat Man about to be loaded
into
Bockscar
Tinian's Runway Able: Where World War II was won gives more.
Via Email
Runway able - incredible piece of WWII history
HISTORY
Tinian
Island, Pacific Ocean.
It's a small island, less than 40
square miles, a flat green dot in the
vastness of Pacific blue.
Fly
over it and you notice a slash across
its north end of uninhabited bush, a
long thin line that looks like an overgrown dirt
runway. If you didn't know what it
was, you wouldn't give it a
second glance out your airplane
window.
On the ground, you see the runway
isn't dirt but tarmac and crushed
limestone, abandoned with weeds
sticking out of it. Yet this is
arguably the most historical airstrip
on earth. This is where World War II
was won. This is Runway Able:
On July 24, 1944, 30,000 US Marines
landed on the beaches of Tinian...
Eight days later, over 8,000 of the
8,800 Japanese soldiers on the island
were dead (vs. 328 Marines), and four
months later the Seabees had built the
busiest airfield of WWII - dubbed
North Field - enabling B-29
Superfortresses to launch air attacks
on the Philippines, Okinawa, and
mainland Japan.
Late in the afternoon of August 5,
1945, a B-29 was maneuvered over a
bomb loading pit, then after lengthy
preparations, taxied to the east end
of North Field's main runway, Runway
Able, and at 2:45 am in the early
morning darkness of August 6, took
off.
The B-29 was piloted by Col. Paul
Tibbets of the US Army Air Force, who
had named the plane after his mother,
Enola Gay. The crew named the
bomb they were carrying Little Boy.
6½ hours later at 8:15 am Japan time,
the first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima.
Three days later, in the pre-dawn
hours of August 9, a B-29 named
Bockscar (a pun on "boxcar" after
its flight commander Capt. Fred Bock),
piloted by Major Charles Sweeney took
off from Runway Able. Finding its
primary target of Kokura obscured by
clouds, Sweeney proceeded to the
secondary target of Nagasaki, over
which, at 11:01 am, bombardier Kermit
Beahan released the atomic bomb dubbed
Fat Man.
Here is "Atomic Bomb Pit #1" where
Little Boy was loaded onto
Enola Gay:
There are pictures displayed in the
pit, now glass-enclosed. This one
shows Little Boy being hoisted
into Enola Gay's bomb bay.
The commemorative plaque records that
16 hours after the nuking of Nagasaki,
"On August 10, 1945 at 0300, the
Japanese Emperor without his cabinet's
consent decided to end the Pacific
War."
Take a good look at these pictures,
folks. This is where World War II
ended with total victory of America
over Japan. I was there all alone.
There were no other visitors and no
one lives anywhere near for miles.
Visiting the Bomb Pits, walking along
deserted Runway Able in solitude, was
a moment of extraordinarily powerful
solemnity.
It was a moment of deep reflection.
Most people, when they think of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reflect on the
numbers of lives killed in the nuclear
blasts - at least 70,000 and 50,000
respectively. Being here caused me to
reflect on the number of lives
saved - how many more Japanese and
Americans would have died in a
continuation of the war had the nukes
not been dropped.
Yet that was not all. It's not just
that the nukes obviated the US
invasion of Japan, Operation Downfall,
that would have caused upwards of a
million American and Japanese deaths
or more. It's that nuking
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were of
extraordinary humanitarian benefit to
the nation and people of Japan.
Let's go to this cliff on the nearby
island of Saipan to learn why:
Saipan is less than a mile north of Tinian... The month before the
Marines took Tinian, on June 15, 1944,
71,000 Marines landed on Saipan...
They faced 31,000 Japanese soldiers
determined not to surrender.
Japan had colonized Saipan after World
War I and turned the island into a
giant sugar cane plantation. By the
time of the Marine invasion, in
addition to the 31,000 entrenched
soldiers, some 25,000 Japanese
settlers were living on Saipan, plus
thousands more Okinawans, Koreans, and
native islanders brutalized as slaves
to cut the sugar cane.
There were also one or two thousand
Korean "comfort women" (kanji
in Japanese), abducted young women
from Japan's colony of Korea to
service the Japanese soldiers as sex
slaves. (See
The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of
Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War,
by George Hicks.)
Within a week of their landing, the
Marines set up a civilian prisoner
encampment that quickly attracted a
couple thousand Japanese and others
wanting US food and protection. When
word of this reached Emperor Hirohito
- who contrary to the myth was in full
charge of the war - he became alarmed
that radio interviews of the
well-treated prisoners broadcast to
Japan would subvert his people's will
to fight.
As meticulously documented by historian Herbert Bix in
Hirohito
And The Making Of Modern Japan, the
Emperor issued an order for all
Japanese civilians on Saipan to commit
suicide. The order included the
promise that, although the civilians
were of low caste, their suicide would
grant them a status in heaven equal to
those honored soldiers who died in
combat for their Emperor.
And that is why the precipice in the
picture above is known as Suicide
Cliff, off which over 20,000 Japanese
civilians jumped to their deaths to
comply with their fascist emperor's
desire - mothers flinging their babies
off the cliff first or in their arms
as they jumped. [ See
Battle of Saipan".- Editor ]
Anyone reluctant or refused, such as
the Okinawan or Korean slaves, were
shoved off at gunpoint by the Jap
soldiers. Then the soldiers
themselves proceeded to hurl
themselves into the ocean to drown off
a sea cliff afterwards called Banzai
Cliff. Of the 31,000 Japanese
soldiers on Saipan, the Marines killed
25,000, 5,000 jumped off Banzai Cliff,
and only the remaining thousand were
taken prisoner.
The extent of this demented fanaticism
is very hard for any civilized mind to
fathom - especially when it is devoted
not to anything noble but barbarian
evil instead. The vast brutalities
inflicted by the Japanese on their
conquered and colonized peoples of
China, Korea, the Philippines, and
throughout their "Greater East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere" was a hideously
depraved horror.
And they were willing to fight to the
death to defend it. So they had to be
nuked. The only way to put an end to
the Japanese barbarian horror was
unimaginably colossal destruction
against which they had no defense
whatever. Nuking Japan was not a
matter of justice, revenge, or it
getting what it deserved. It was the
only way to end the Japanese dementia.
And it worked - for the Japanese.
They stopped being barbarians and
started being civilized. They
achieved more prosperity - and peace -
than they ever knew, or could have
achieved had they continued fighting
and not been nuked. The shock
of getting nuked is responsible.
We achieved this because we were
determined to achieve victory.
Victory without apologies. Despite
perennial liberal demands we do so,
America and its government has never
apologized for nuking Japan..
Hopefully, America never will.
Oh, yes... Guinness lists
Saipan as having the best, most
equitable, weather in the world. And
the beaches? Well, take a look:
Where was it? See the map.
http://www.johneagleton.com/blog/12-general/306-tinians-runway-able-where-world-war-ii-was-won
A friend recently sent along a remarkable email about the role a crushed limestone runway on the small Pacific island of Tinian played in the end of World War II and the rehabilitation of Japan. This email, of unknown authorship, includes photos of the runway and the atomic bomb pits where "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" were loaded aboard B-29s -- Enola Gay and Bockscar -- to be delivered to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It explains how the use of nuclear weapons broke the back of Japanese imperial fanaticism and saved Japanese civilization. Click this link to read the full version of the story, found here.
Tinian Island, Pacific Ocean.
It's a small island, less than 40 square miles, a flat
green dot in the vastness of Pacific blue. Fly over it and you notice a slash
across its north end of uninhabited bush, a long thin line that looks like an
overgrown dirt runway. If you didn't know what it was, you wouldn't give it a
second glance out your airplane window.
On the ground, you see the runway isn't dirt but tarmac and crushed limestone,
abandoned with weeds sticking out of it. Yet this is arguably the most
historical airstrip on earth. This is where World War II was won. This is
Runway Able:
On July 24, 1944, 30,000 US Marines landed on the beaches of Tinian ... Eight
days later, over 8,000 of the 8,800 Japanese soldiers on the island were dead
(vs. 328 Marines), and four months later the Seabees had built the busiest
airfield of WWII - dubbed North Field - enabling B-29 Superfortresses to launch
air attacks on the Philippines, Okinawa, and mainland Japan.
Late in the afternoon of August 5, 1945, a B-29 was maneuvered over a bomb
loading pit, then after lengthy preparations, taxied to the east end of North
Field's main runway, Runway Able, and at 2:45am in the early morning darkness of
August 6, took off.
The B-29 was piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets of the US Army Air Force, who had
named the plane after his mother, Enola Gay. The crew named the bomb they were
carrying Little Boy. 6½ hours later at 8:15am Japan time, the first atomic bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima .
Three days later, in the pre-dawn hours of August 9, a B-29 named Bockscar (a
pun on "boxcar" after its flight commander Capt. Fred Bock), piloted by Major
Charles Sweeney took off from Runway Able. Finding its primary target of Kokura
obscured by clouds, Sweeney proceeded to the secondary target of Nagasaki, over
which, at 11:01am, bombardier Kermit Beahan released the atomic bomb
dubbed Fat Man.
Here is "Atomic Bomb Pit #1" where Little Boy was loaded onto Enola Gay:
There are pictures displayed in the pit, now glass-enclosed. This one
shows Little Boy being hoisted into Enola Gay's bomb bay.
And here on the other side of ramp is "Atomic Bomb Pit #2" where Fat Man was
loaded onto Bockscar.
The commemorative plaque records that 16 hours after the nuking of Nagasaki ,
"On August 10, 1945 at 0300, the Japanese Emperor without his cabinet's consent
decided to end the Pacific War."
Take a good look at these pictures, folks. This is where World War II ended
with total victory of America over Japan . I was there all alone. There were no
other visitors and no one lives anywhere near for miles. Visiting the Bomb
Pits, walking along deserted Runway Able in solitude, was a moment of
extraordinarily powerful solemnity.
It was a moment of deep reflection. Most people, when they think of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki , reflect on the numbers of lives killed in the nuclear blasts - at
least 70,000 and 50,000 respectively. Being here caused me to reflect on the
number of lives saved - how many more Japanese and Americans would have died in
a continuation of the war had the nukes not been dropped.
Yet that was not all. It's not just that the nukes obviated the US invasion of
Japan , Operation Downfall, that would have caused upwards of a million American
and Japanese deaths or more. It's that nuking
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were of extraordinary humanitarian benefit to the nation
and people of Japan .
Let's go to this cliff on the nearby island of Saipan to learn why:
Saipan is less than a mile north of Tinian ... The month before the Marines
took Tinian, on June 15, 1944, 71,000 Marines landed on Saipan ... They faced
31,000 Japanese soldiers determined not to surrender.
Japan had colonized Saipan after World War I and turned the island into a giant
sugar cane plantation. By the time of the Marine invasion, in addition to the
31,000 entrenched soldiers, some 25,000 Japanese settlers were living on Saipan,
plus thousands more Okinawans, Koreans, and native islanders brutalized as
slaves to cut the sugar cane.
There were also one or two thousand Korean "comfort women" (kanji in Japanese),
abducted young women from Japan 's colony of Korea to service the Japanese
soldiers as sex slaves. (See The Comfort Women: Japan 's Brutal Regime of
Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War, by George Hicks.)
Within a week of their landing, the Marines set up a civilian prisoner
encampment that quickly attracted a couple thousand Japanese and others wanting
US food and protection. When word of this reached Emperor Hirohito - who
contrary to the myth was in full charge of the war - he became alarmed that
radio interviews of the well-treated prisoners broadcast to Japan would subvert
his people's will to fight.
As meticulously documented by historian Herbert Bix in Hirohito and the Making
of Modern Japan, the Emperor issued an order for all Japanese civilians on
Saipan to commit suicide. The order included the promise that, although the
civilians were of low caste, their suicide would grant them a status in heaven
equal to those honored soldiers who died in combat for their Emperor.
And that is why the precipice in the picture above is known as Suicide Cliff,
off which over 20,000 Japanese civilians jumped to their deaths to comply with
their fascist emperor's desire - mothers flinging their babies off the cliff
first or in their arms as they jumped.
Anyone reluctant or refused, such as the Okinawan or Korean slaves, were shoved
off at gunpoint by the Jap soldiers. Then the soldiers themselves proceeded to
hurl themselves into the ocean to drown off a sea cliff afterwards called Banzai
Cliff. Of the 31,000 Japanese soldiers on Saipan , the Marines killed 25,000,
5,000 jumped off Banzai Cliff, and only the remaining thousand were taken
prisoner.
The extent of this demented fanaticism is very hard for any civilized mind to
fathom - especially when it is devoted not to anything noble but barbarian evil
instead. The vast brutalities inflicted by the Japanese on their conquered and
colonized peoples of China , Korea , the Philippines , and throughout their
"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was a hideously depraved horror.
And they were willing to fight to the death to defend it. So they had to be
nuked. The only way to put an end to the Japanese barbarian horror was
unimaginably colossal destruction against which they had no defense whatever.
Nuking Japan was not a matter of justice, revenge, or it getting what it
deserved. It was the only way to end the Japanese dementia.
And it worked - for the Japanese. They stopped being barbarians and started
being civilized. They achieved more prosperity - and peace - than they ever
knew, or could have achieved had they continued fighting and not been
nuked. The shock of getting nuked is responsible.
We achieved this because we were determined to achieve victory. Victory without
apologies. Despite perennial liberal demands we do so, America and its
government has never apologized for nuking Japan .. Hopefully, America never
will.
Oh, yes... Guinness lists Saipan as having the best, most equitable, weather in
the world. And the beaches? Well, take a look: