Mystery land

[Feinder]

French Frigate Shoals... between Hawaii and Midway. In WITP could be used for 150 AC before overcrowding...

Actually, I think it's an AF-0(1), which means you can build it to an AF-4, 200 aircraft, without over-crowding...

[;)]
-F-

[Charbroiled]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

French Frigate Shoals... between Hawaii and Midway. In WITP could be used for 150 AC before overcrowding...

Actually, I think it's an AF-0(1), which means you can build it to an AF-4, 200 aircraft, without over-crowding...

[;)]
-F-

I think that is completely realistic.....if you stack them just right, there would be no problem getting 200 planes on that airstrip. Of course, the planes would probably still have to be in crates and then you would also have to figure out where to put the 4 Divisions of Infantry.[:D]

[Speedysteve]

Or how on earth those planes could ever move when 'stacked'[;)]

[carnifex]

FFS = "for f uck's sake" on teh interweb

lol @ Feinder who I thought was exasparated instead of taking an actual guess

[msieving1]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

I recall reading an article that it actually was bigger than that little spit that you see in the photo, during WW2.  Naturally, it was bit of land and surrouding shallows.  During the war, they built it up quite a bit, and created the AF.  It was also -maintained-.  However, the "normal" state of erosion has melted away pretty much everything but the runway.  I doubt the fully operational island was very much to begin with, but the picture of just the runway is a little misleading.

If you pull up pics of Baker (max AF-4) and Canton (max AF-5) islands in WitP (everybody's PBEM favorites), they're (also) quite tiny.
-F-

For comparison, Canton Island is about 9 square km. Baker Island is about 1.6 square km. Tern Island (the airstrip in the picture) is about 0.1 square km. Total land area of French Frigate Shoals is about 0.25 square km, spread out over about a dozen islets, of which Tern is the largest.

The engineers had to expand Tern Island to put a 3,300 ft runway there. It was used as an emergency landing strip for flights between Oahu and Midway. I doubt that it was ever an operational base.

[MineSweeper]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

French Frigate Shoals... between Hawaii and Midway. In WITP could be used for 150 AC before overcrowding...

Actually, I think it's an AF-0(1), which means you can build it to an AF-4, 200 aircraft, without over-crowding...

[;)]
-F-

I wonder how long it would take....I have been building an airfield at Tori Shima for over 3 years and it is still not level 3.....plenty of supplies and construction crews....[:@]

[Feinder]

I wonder how long it would take....I have been building an airfield at Tori Shima for over 3 years and it is still not level 3.....plenty of supplies and construction crews....

It doesn't take THAT long if you're US in 1943. I built up FFS to AF-4(1) in about a month using 20 or so SeaBee units and an HQ (I also expanded the port 4(1)). He owns Midway (hopefully, not for much longer), and FFS and Lazy-Anne will aid in that endeavor. Lazy-Anne is a 0(0) at start, and even with 20+ ENGs it's taking a while (not even a 1 yet), in fact, I doubt I'll bother completing the Lazy-Anne AF anyway.

You get a LOT of SeaBees, it becomes a matter of just having them build/expand SOMETHING, ANYTHING, just to keep them busy.

-F-

[spence]

I wonder what happens to that airfield after a large storm comes through

The Coast Guard LORAN A Station washed away once subsequent to WWII...not sure exactly when

Within the Coast Guard, French Frigate Shoals was the ultimate isolated duty, often referred to when threats were made to ship someone to the middle of nowhere

[qgaliana]

Requiring some engineers present to maintain bases wouldn't be an outlandish feature in the game. Right now any unoccuppied base will actually slowly repair damage, whether it's downtown Brisbane or a dirt strip surrounded by jungle in the middle of the Owen Stanley Mtns. In real life they slowly accumulate damage.

[wdolson]

My father passed through Johnston coming and going from the war zone.  I believe he said it was L shaped at the time with the runway on one arm of the L and aircraft parked on the other.  The mess hall was right next to the runway and you had to eat holding down your plate with one hand.  Otherwise the vibrations from landing and taking off planes would dump your dinner on the floor.

Wake Island got hit with a massive typhoon last year.  http://www.keepingapace.com/blogarchives/air_force/wake_island_typhoon_damage_assessment.php