Restoration of two of the four runways at North Field is expected to be completed by 2027, while military engineers continue to repave roads and repair buildings.

It was from North Field on Tinian, one of the three principal islands in the Mariana Islands chain, from which the United States Twentieth Air Force carried out its Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombing campaign against the Japanese Home Islands at the end of World War II. It is also from where two B-29 bombers named “Enola Gay” and “Bockscar” took off just over 80 years ago, respectively dropping the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bombers operating from the base also conducted aerial mining of Japan’s sea lanes and naval harbors.

North Field on Tinian was crucial to bringing World War II to a close. Indeed, by 1945, it had become the largest airport in the world—thanks in large part to its unique grid-like airfield design, which enabled far faster and more numerous takeoffs and landings than conventional airports. It operated four 8,500-foot runways and had the infrastructure for more than 40,000 military personnel at a time.

There is some irony that North Field grew out of a far smaller Japanese airbase, with the US facility built after Tinian was captured by the United States military in 1944. Almost as soon as the island was under US control, US Navy Seabees, the construction battalions, began work on what was to become the massive base.

“Because the shape of the island was reminiscent of Manhattan, New York, the Seabees laid it out in a pattern, and with place names, based on the city streets there,” the National Park Service explained on its website.

Yet with its sole purpose—bombing Japan into submission—no longer relevant, North Field was abandoned only two years after the end of the war, along with vast quantities of equipment. In the decades that followed, the base was slowly but surely being reclaimed by nature as the runways became overgrown and the jungle crept back.

The US Military Is Bringing North Field Back

Under efforts from the US military, North Field has begun to make a slow but steady comeback. Efforts began more than two decades ago when Runway Able was cleared for use again. In March 2023, a United States Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor even landed on the island.

“The brief presence of this fifth-generation fighter aircraft marked the beginning of a resurgence in airpower operations from this tiny patch of land 3,714 miles west of Hawaii,” the Air Force announced in May as efforts to restore the former base have begun to ramp up.

The landing came as part of the service’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) efforts, which have seen the Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons deployed to the remote Pacific island. The units have collaborated with engineers from the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps to restore the base, beginning with the reclamation of the four runways.

The goal is to have a semi-permanent contingency location (SCL), a base designed and built to support a mission expected to last just a few years. A step above temporary contingency locations (TCLs), such facilities are designed to offer a flexible and adaptable base of operations without the need for complete infrastructure or permanent structures.

North Field could serve as a “fallback” if Andersen Air Force Base (AFB), Guam, were to become unusable in a future Pacific conflict with China. Like Guam, Tinian is part of the north-south defensive line that makes up the Second Island Chain under the United States military’s containment strategy. A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held last month on Tinian, with images shared on social media, where the efforts have been called “one of the most extensive rehabilitation projects in Air Force history.”

Restoration of two of the four runways at North Field is expected to be completed by 2027, while military engineers continue to repave roads and repair buildings.

A Second Airbase Is in the Works on Tinian

The US military has also begun work to expand Tinian Airport, with the first phase expected to be completed in October. It has included extending a taxi way as well as “a parking apron for military aircraft,” according to Newsweek.

These efforts should be ready by the time that some US officials believe China could be prepared to mount an invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing maintains is a breakaway province that will eventually be returned to mainland control by force if necessary.