ORIGINAL: bradfordkay
I don't know if this has ben mentioned yet, but shouldn't Howland Island have a level one airstrip? There was the airstrip that Amelia Earhart planned to use, was it so overgrown already by war start as to be a level zero?
From "World War II Pacific Island Guide: A Geo-Military Study" by Gordon L. Rottman, page 332:
In 1937, a 2,400 foot airstrip was constructed on Howland to provide Amelia Earhart and Frederick Noonan a refueling stop between New Guinea and Hawaii for their round-the-world flight attempt. On 2 July, enroute to Howland, they disappeared and were never seen again. The search, conducted by substantial U.S. Navy forces, was halted on 18 July. The Japanese thought there was an operational airfield on the island and planned to strike it during the Pearl Harbor attack. It was later bombed by the United States to prevent its possible use by the Japanese and later the Japanese did the same to deny it to the United States. It was repaired by U.S. forces in late 1943 for use as an emergency landing strip.
